


At Your Worst, You're the Best

by Evitcani



Series: Seldom We Say [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Dom/sub, Enemies to Friends to Lovers to Husbands, M/M, Pirates, Post-Canon, Reaper Coworkers, Reincarnation, Shadar-Kai, Sorry Wizards of the Coast My Astral Plane Now, Spanking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-01-15 09:04:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12317925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evitcani/pseuds/Evitcani
Summary: Taako is a secretary. Kravitz is his coworker more than his boss. A fuck toy more than a lover.And sometime between 9 to 5 every weekday and 7 to 9 three days a week, Kravitz gets under his skin more than his skirt.





	1. Do It for Me

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I know this isn't what Shadar-kai are like at all. The truth is Shadar-kai are boring, authors are all dead, and I'm _living_.
> 
> **Interlude Directory  
> **  
>  1\. Pirates — Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spark of something old.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains: Masturbation, anal sex, oral sex, rimming, and techno jazz.

The door slammed hard enough to shake a binder of old pamphlet designs free. Kravitz barely held back a scream of frustration. He didn’t stop the swear. “Fuck,” he snarled, kicking the binder and sending its contents scattering across his office floor. A bigger mess to clean up and his new secretary certainly wasn’t going to do it. He thumped his head against the side of the bookcase and put an arm up to lean against it, resting there for a moment with his hand still on the door handle. 

The bookcase gave an alarming shudder. Kravitz jerked back in time for something in the center to crack. “No, no, no,” he hissed, darting to the front of it and grabbing the cheap shelf that had finally given up on holding its load of books. Balancing it with one arm, Kravitz ripped the books off the offending shelf and threw them on the ground. The whole bookcase groaned, threatening to topple inward at any moment. Kravitz stretched backwards, barely managing to grasp a wooden ruler. He put it in his teeth and reached for the glue gun sitting on his desk. 

Carelessly and quickly, he coated one side of the ruler with glue and shoved it under the shelf, forcing the broken piece back into place. He held it there for a moment and then stepped back carefully, hands fluttering in the air in front of him like he was trying to coax a frightened animal. The shelf protested, but went quiet and stayed together. 

Kravitz sighed and ran a hand down his face, covering his mouth. He sat on his desk and set the glue gun down, staring tiredly at the mess. 

The door slammed open, startling Kravitz. Taako glanced at the ground, clicking his silver tongue at the mess. He tossed the pile of papers right on top of it and Kravitz lunged forward like he had a chance of catching them. They hit the ground and exploded forms across whatever floorspace Kravitz had left. “Those copies you demanded, homie,” he smiled, all mean teeth and not an ounce of guilt. 

He slammed the door shut on his way out. Kravitz didn’t even try to stop the bookcase from caving in on itself. He put his head in both hands and dug his claws into his scalp. 

“A secretary will make your life easier, Alli,” Kravitz snarled, hopping to his feet. “You’ll have more time to take a break.” He leaned down and started scooping up the forms from the ground. Reaper evaluations, of course. “I know how you are, Alli—,” he ranted, grunting as he picked up one of the fallen tomes, “— and I’ll be the one to fire them if they need to be fired.” He slammed two of the heavy books onto his desk and leaned forward, taking deep breathes. 

A raven interrupted his thoughts with a caw. Of course, he knew perfectly well that She could hear him. It hopped through the stained glass window and plucked at the papers. “I’ll have them done soon,” he growled, shooing it away. “Who's asking?”

It answered with a tilt of its head, the name clicking in place. “Remind the Princess they’re not due for another month,” he sighed, sinking to his knees and burying his face in his arms. There was a flutter of wings as the raven took off.

When was he supposed to take a break, again? 

Behind him, the door opened. He didn’t bother turning around, lifting his head and staring at the window behind his desk in acknowledgement. “Whoops, guess I sent the wrong copies down to filing,” Taako said flippantly. Kravitz’s claws dug into his desk, leaving angry indents in the wood. “Guess that’s what happens when you do a rush job, boss.” 

Kravitz punched the stack of papers off his desk into the bin, turning around and pushing his sleeves up. Taako stared down at his claws, picking them clean with a quill Kravitz had given him on his first day. He glanced up airily, raising his eyebrows. 

“Problem?” 

That quill had never touched a pot of ink. 

It had been three months. Three months of needling, name calling, and mesmeric, taunting eyes. “I’m going home early,” he finally snapped. 

“Right, homie, I’ll cancel your two o’clock doin’ nothin’ and slot in starin’ at walls,” Taako responded, looking down at his claws. “Guess this means I’m done for the day, too.”

Kravitz’s lower lip trembled with an insult he wouldn’t dignify _this_ with. He stormed out of his office without another word, cloak billowing behind him. 

“I hear ya, boss! Paid vacation,” Taako called after him.

Kravitz stopped dead at the door, turning to snarl something. He refused to give Taako more to smirk about and went on charging towards the spare office where he kept the few things he did own. It wasn’t a home – which Kravitz didn’t have – but it was all he needed. 

_Had_ been all he needed. 

Kravitz needed something else to do besides obsess over getting petty revenge for—. For everything. Of course, he had a good idea of how to pull his thoughts away from Taako’s pretty, pointed smile. He took a deep breath and touched his collarbone where his mark of service curved to a stop. The last three months would probably make for a good session. 

He moved down the hall to the locker rooms. It’d been a long time since he’d taken more than a perfunctory shower to look – and smell – somewhat presentable. After a moment of hesitation with his hand on the door, Kravitz backtracked to his room and grabbed a small bottle of lube he kept hidden in a drawer. He tossed it into his basket of toiletries and scratched the side of his nose, heat rising to his cheeks. The only people who were supposed to use that locker room were him and Taako. Considering Taako was _Taako_ , he’d never once seen the man or any hint of him in there. 

He locked the door behind himself and fidgeted with the panel on the wall until the showers on one side turned on. While it filled the bath, Kravitz began stripping. He carefully folded his clothes and put them in the service trolley, digging through his basket with his free hand for his return stamps. Ripping one off, he licked it and stuck it to the bag. Whistling, he hit the button and sent the trolley squealing down the rails. 

He sat on the edge of the bath, dipping his toes into the water and spreading his hands to play with the steam. There was time enough to enjoy this. With a chirp he jumped in and splashed around, sending half the bath down the floor drains. He laughed when the automated faucets came on. “A little warmer,” he grinned up at whatever arcane magic kept itself employed there. 

Sitting under the spray, he tilted his head back and smiled. It felt like it was carrying away the too-long morning; smoothing his worry lines and the wrinkles at the corners of his mouth. It had – wonderfully – turned a few degrees warmer at his request. 

He sat forward on his knees and reached for his shampoo. It’d been a gift a long time ago. Too long to remember who’d given to him or why. Something that smelled like cloves and vanilla, syrup and moss with a smattering of pepper. He’d gone through about half of it and dreaded trying to find more. It only came out for these trips. 

For days afterwards, he could catch the smell of it on a curl of his hair and savor what had been. A little reminder to ease him into normal life again. 

He scrubbed at his scalp and chest feathers, taking extra care to smooth them free of any feather too far out of place. The place had flooded with the smell of the shampoo and he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Jessamine smoked something with cloves. At least, she had the last time he’d gone. He tilted his head forward and let the water finish washing away the suds. 

She’d tried to convince him to start smoking a pipe – something about it helping him relax – but he hadn’t taken to it. He liked it when she smoked, though. The smell clung to him like another layer of control. 

Kravitz shifted forward, pulling himself from the water and shaking his hair out before grabbing a towel. He huffed and patted his face dry. His mind turned to that last time as he twisted his hair into a towel. Jessamine had him between her thighs, twisting his sensitive hair into braids. Kravitz sat on his towel with his back against the cold tile of the bath. He twirled a lock of hair around his finger, sighing softly as it sent sparks of pleasure curling up and into his scalp. 

She’d used her stockings as a makeshift blindfold. “ _Good bird._ ” He could almost hear her smoky voice in his ear. Kravitz fumbled for the lube and closed his eyes. Her claw had traced just under the folded edges of his ear all the way up to its trembling tip. “ _Cute._ ” 

He groaned and circled his ass, wishing he was brave enough to keep a toy for himself inside the castle. Still, this wasn’t really about pleasure. Not yet. His thoughts shifted to Cooper, fingers sinking into him from behind and grinning, “ _For me, pretty bird?_ ” 

Kravitz shifted his hips and bit his lip, resting his head on the side of the tub as he spread himself with his fingers. He kept from touching his cock by running his free hand up the side of his neck and winding it in his sensitive hair. Eventually, his breathing grew too ragged to force it through his nose and he gasped for breath, the edge of orgasm at the tips of his fingers. He ground down on himself with a moan. It was right on the tip of his tongue, but it would be better later. He forced his hand to the towel, fisting the fabric and arching with a whine. 

Panting, Kravitz rolled onto his knees awkwardly and braced his arms on the side of the bath. He stared at the floor, hips twitching and pressing his knees together. After he’d caught his breath, he grasped for the wall and pulled until the panel slid about eye level. He turned it as cold as he could and jumped in before he lost his nerve. 

The cold hit him right to the bones and Kravitz very nearly went skeletal. He yelped, jumping right out and hopping around until his teeth stopped chattering. The panel beeped and turned the temperature up to thaw back out the ice block of bath. 

Still shaking, he finished drying off with fresh, warm towels. He wrapped a towel around his waist and threw the rest in a trolley he sent it skittering down the rails on his way out. Kravitz didn’t own much in general. Fashion didn’t change quickly in Shadowfell, but he’d somehow managed to fall behind by more than a few centuries. 

This was mostly because Kravitz thought corsets were a tad too far on the side of impractical even for him. Not to mention all the ruffles. He fingered the hem of the stylish shirt he’d gotten from home a few decades ago. It was the only thing he owned that he hadn’t patched at some point. He preferred his day-to-day clothes, but these at least made him feel like a different person. Not the Kravitz. Not Alli, either. 

Someone who could walk out of the castle commando under layers of makeup and pretty lace with only a simple white mask standing between him and a scandal. He pulled his hood lower as he swept into the permanently twilight tinged streets of Shadowfell. There were plenty of people swinging in and out of their favored pleasures, but Kravitz preferred to keep his proclivities to himself. He stepped aside from a woman tugging another behind her on a leash as they slurred the lyrics of the [jazz shaking the planters of a music club](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbsBEb1ZxWA). 

Atop another building, a mad wizard sent fireworks blasting against the dome. Kravitz glared, pausing, but it wasn’t his problem tonight. Not like someone else wouldn’t be doing the same thing the moment he pulled one of them down. He barely dodged out of the way of paint dripping from high above. A painter on a ladder in the last stages of a parody of the Princess stretched across the side of a building. It took him a moment to get it and he stopped in his tracks in shock. _Not my problem either_ , he reminded himself, closing his mouth and putting up a hand to block it out as he turned away. 

Well, it wasn’t his problem until tomorrow when he would most definitely have to deal with it. 

He bit his lip to turn away from the anxiety touching his stomach. Around the corner, he nearly ran into a couple spinning in the street. Seamlessly, they pulled him into their dance and Kravitz let them swing him through the crowd of dancers to the end of the street, laughing. They gave him a kiss on either cheek as he parted that left him grinning from ear to ear. Feeling indulgent, he pressed a copper into the hand of the next waiter he saw and took an ale. 

He swayed past the music clubs and painters, cart vendors hawking cheap instruments and cheaper canvases, and finally the clubs that had no more need to advertise themselves than garish red doors. Above the doorway to his was a painted pair of cats enjoying tea. They tipped their hats at him and the door swung open. 

High atop Kravitz castle, the clock struck noon. 

Kravitz took a seat on a couch in the waiting room. This time of day, it didn’t take long for a pretty woman with cardinal bright hair to come along. She gestured him back to her office. 

“It’s been a while, Alli,” she smiled, clipboard in hand. She took a seat across from him. “You’re looking well. Anything for me to update?”

“No, nothing new for me,” he replied, running a hand through his hair. “How are you, Jessamine?” 

“Wishing I wasn’t working now that you’ve come in,” she winked, setting down her clipboard with a smoky laugh. “We have some new people coming in. When we interviewed him, I _immediately_ thought of you. Exactly your type _and_ he’s free.”

He could take a hint that his usual people were busy – like Jessamine herself – or hadn’t come in. “What’s his name?” The stage names told him a lot about people. His was Alli, but it’d been a long time since he thought of himself as Alli. It might as well have been made up, too.

“Tuff Greg,” she said with a little laugh at his grimace. “I promise you’ll love him.” 

He shifted in the chair, crossing and uncrossing his legs. “Who else do you have?” 

She averted her eyes with a sigh. “It’s a slow time of day usually. There are a couple others, but I know you don’t want the audience and can’t afford to see them privately.” At least he could always trust her to be frank. 

Kravitz thought of coming back later, but instead he nodded and opened his coin purse. If he went back, he’d have six ravens at his window vying for him to deal with the fireworks or the Princess’s image distastefully smeared across a building. Whatever break he’d hoped to have would take another decade to get to. Whatever Greg could give him would be better than what waited at the castle. 

She went to a cabinet and brought out a file of notes labeled ‘ _Tuff Greg_ ’. Kravitz took it and the key for the room, checking the tag for where he was going on his way down the hallway. He ate a small meal in the tidy room overlooking the washed out streets of Shadowfell. Occasionally, the cobblestone lit up with distant fireworks. His cloak and mask were on a hook by the door now that he was safely ensconced in the privacy the club gave him.

The review of [Greg’s information](https://tinyurl.com/ycbfsgvu) looked promising. He liked using pet names and was touchy, a little mean. The notes said that the mean never went into cruelty. It’d been awhile since Kravitz had seen someone a little rougher and with all the things Taako had made him deal with, he hoped it would be cathartic. 

He briefly wondered what Greg was reading about him. It was confidential outside of a few parts, like hard no’s or preferences. Those were the only things Kravitz could see on his own report to protect the privacy of what his past partners had said about him. Whatever they had thought important for the next person to read about. Whatever they thought was important to making sure he had a good time. 

Like the note that Greg had extremely sensitive ears from one man who had made him come by touching them with Greg’s head in his lap and fingers in his hair. Kravitz smiled, flipping back to the list. Cuddling, marked as a ‘soft no’. Interesting. 

Another account from someone swearing he’d leave the club over how cold Greg was. Kravitz skimmed that one, too old to have expectations of romance from a hook-up at a sex club. Both he and Greg had come ready to take anyone to get what they wanted. A way to beat boredom, to pretend to be powerful, to feel nothing. Kravitz’s finger brushed the slight, delicate texture of the ink over the words, ‘ _I come here to feel like anyone cares_.’ 

A mistake, but they all had their guilty delusions to get them through the day. He thumbed the lipstick along his lower lip and leaned back. The chair creaked in the empty room. He tucked a curl of hair into his bun, turning a few pages. 

Farther in was a detailed account of a blowjob. With little details about every little touch and what had made it work. ‘ _Swipe the freckle on the inside of his knee with your tongue_ ,’ ‘ _Don’t tease him too long, he’s impatient_ ,’ ‘ _He’ll fuck your mouth like he forgot you need to breath_ ’. His cheeks warmed reading how Greg had made whoever wrote the note clean up with only his mouth and hands. That Greg had kissed away the cum dripping from the author’s cheeks. 

Something to look forward to, then. 

He tidied up the file right before a soft knock at the door. A servant came and took it and his plate away. Kravitz turned towards the bay window, loosening his sleeves and rolling them to his elbows. He kicked off his shoes, leaving them neatly against the wall as he curled against the pillows of the seat. Anticipation sizzled in his stomach. The glass served as a makeshift mirror for his preening. He put stray hairs back into place and licked his thumb and forefinger to run them down the length of the feathers peeking from the top of his partially unbuttoned shirt. 

The door opened and clicked closed. In the reflection, Kravitz could see the murky, red-clad figure of Greg. He schooled his expression into a practiced, shy smile and turned, fingers laying against his collarbone. 

They both froze. 

‘Tuff Greg’, resplendent in his robes and all the gold dripping from his long ears, fumbled with the spool of silver ribbon he was holding. He barely managed to catch it, staring in shock. “Fuckin’—,” he swore, mouth opening and closing. “Kravitz?”

“Taako,” Kravitz concluded, lips thinning. He dropped his hand to the seat and sighed. Cold, mean, impatient. That was Taako. 

The smirk spreading across Taako’s face made him hate everything. Whatever centuries of notes his regular people had on him, Taako now had in his head. “This is good,” Taako grinned, putting a hand on his hip and laying the silver ribbon on the table. 

Kravitz stood to leave, fists shaking at his sides. He tried not to say anything, but he was too frustrated. _Of course_ it had to be Taako. Chest puffed out and feathers ruffled, he growled, “Nothing about this is good, Taako. For gods’ sake, wipe that damn smile off your face.”

Taako tilted his head and aimed an attack straight at Kravitz with his mean little mouth, “That’s not a very nice thing for such a pretty bird to say, Kravitz.” That did some things to Kravitz that he hated. Taako was in front of him in a few long strides, fingers smoothing over his chest feathers. “Did you do all this for me, pretty bird?”

Kravitz swallowed audibly. Taako’s other hand gently smoothed into his hair and he shivered. If he went downstairs now, he’d have to pay again. That wasn’t something he could afford with as little salary as he gave himself. It meant he either stayed or went back to the castle alone and unsatisfied. “Y-yes,” he finally replied in a whisper. The sensation in his hair sparked down his spine and pulled a soft moan from his throat. 

Nothing good could come of this. He was used to being unsatisfied. He _should_ leave, but—.

“Sensitive,” Taako hummed approvingly, leaning forward to capture his mouth in a kiss. It was impatient with nips at his lower lip that didn’t let Kravitz forget exactly who was kissing him. _Cold, mean, impatient._ Taako took what he wanted, moving Kravitz backwards until he felt the edge of the window seat behind his thighs. Kravitz managed to lift himself up without breaking the kiss, spreading his legs for Taako to stand between them. This was something he needed almost desperately, it’d been more than a decade since the last time he’d been _touched_ by anyone but himself. Taako took a step back and Kravitz leaned forward to chase his fingers. “Why don’t you show me how pretty you can be, handsome?” He pushed his thumb into Kravitz’s mouth, pressing down on his tongue and plucking at his shirt meaningful.

Kravitz felt his ears turn hot to the tips. If he was going to leave, it was the time to do it. His eyes darted between Taako and the door. The promise of what else the night could give him lay in the warmth lingering in the places Taako had touched him, the kiss still tingling against his swollen lips as Taako withdrew his hand. 

He was handsome, glittering with beauty like it was commonplace. More than that he bit his thumbnail around his smile while his eyes roamed over Kravitz in a way that made his ears tremble at the ends. Kravitz knew he was vain and he wouldn’t get enough of the way Taako was looking at him. 

Taako was— _Cold, mean, impatient_. Sharp. A prick, to say the least. Smiling Taako was a different person who looked at Kravitz like he meant something. Something more than the butt end of a joke. 

He started taking off his shirt, fumbling with the buttons. It felt like a painfully long time before he finally had it, folding it over once and setting it aside. Taako laughed delightedly and tossed the shirt on the floor at their feet with a grin. 

“Taako,” he tried to warn, but its edge was lost in Taako running his fingers through the downy feathers on his chest. 

“I’d like to see you try to dock my pay for that one, my man,” Taako snorted, kissing down the side of his neck. He stroked the light trail of feathers over his stomach, making Kravitz shudder and groan. “With as much as your feathers are ruffled, thought I’d be in for some steel wool here.” He nuzzled his face into the puff, talons dipping past the hem of Kravitz’s leggings. Fingers pushing the fabric down, he tilted his head back with a smirk. “Should have known better, pretty bird,” he laughed, yanking the leggings down to bunch at Kravitz’s knees. 

Kravitz clung to the edge of the window seat so he didn’t fall off, huffing at Taako who only winked and untied his robes. It fell to his shoulders as he pressed his face into Kravitz’s chest, clever fingers sliding over individual feathers. Grooming. Kravitz’s talons dug into the seat, eyes shuttering close. He could feel the tip of Taako’s tongue against his skin and feathers each time his fingers darted to his mouth to wet them for every little stroke. Whatever was left of his will to leave fled the corners of his mind. 

He wondered how much of it was the notes. Taako kissed up his chest, hand sliding into his hair ever so gently and tilting his head back to bite a line up the column of his throat. He lavished Kravitz’s adam’s apple with attention before grabbing him into a kiss with one hand pinching the nape of his neck. The other hand slid down his chest. He pulled away and Kravitz chased his mouth hungrily, eyes fluttering open to watch Taako – unfocused and unhurried. 

The robes slid the rest of the way off of his shoulders, leaving Taako standing in a puddle of silk. Kravitz’s eyes sharpened with attention, eyes sweeping over Taako in the same way Taako appraised him. A grey patch of feathers on his chest, a few piercings and tattoos. 

One tattoo flowed like fire down his arm, flickering with magic ink and making a phoenix feather shimmer in its illusory light. On his other arm was cursive letters that said, simply, ‘ _Because I lost a bet,_ ’ under an image of a Tom Bodett giving the thumbs up. Under it was water lilies floating in a bucket, the tattoo rippling as if caught in a rainstorm. Kravitz’s eyes wandered to the stick-n-poke heart over, well, Taako’s heart. Down to the flames licking his hip while a frying pan sizzled over it with bacon. All the motion made Taako into one big distraction, hard not to let himself be drawn into the chaos. He didn’t have time to look at more before Taako made a noise approaching urgency. 

Taako’s eyes caught the dick piercing and he practically leapt forward, leaning over Kravitz’s crotch. Kravitz’s ears flicked in embarrassment and he stared up at the ceiling. “Hoo boy, this is a nice surprise,” Taako grinned, wrapping his hand around Kravitz’s cock. Groaning, Kravitz propped himself against the window as Taako thumbed the barbell. “Been holding out on me, my guy.”

Kravitz rolled his eyes, face still burning. He raised his shoulder defensively. “Yes, I should have tossed that out one of the times you sat at your desk, goofing—,” he started to complain, but Taako cut him off by gripping his cock painfully. His breath stuttered and bit back a whimper.

Taako jerked his chin forward sharply, eyes narrowed down at him. “I’ve been nice because we’re both a little taken aback, but I never told you that you could talk, _Alli_ ,” he growled, fingers loosening and hand dropping from his jaw to the puff of feathers on Kravitz’s chest. “You may speak to apologize.”

Kravitz closed his mouth and lifted his head defiantly, internally cursing himself for, predictably, finding the strong reminder that he wasn’t in charge going straight to his dick. Snickering, Taako reached up to pat Kravitz’s cheek. “Good bird,” he grinned. Kravitz’s ears dipped and perked at the attention. Taako stepped away, dragging over a chair. He sat down, crossing his legs so his ankle rested on his knee. “I think we need to workshop some mutual frustrations, so I want you to tell me exactly what you think of me.” 

“I hate you,” Kravitz said without thinking. “You make my life hell.”

Taako sat back, nodding thoughtfully. “Right. Tell me what you’re hopin’ I’ll do to you tonight, _boss_.” 

It wasn’t a request. Kravitz swallowed, looking anywhere but at Taako as more than a few ways to work out some of his frustration came to mind. His gaze caught the door, chest lifting and falling. 

“Go if you want to,” Taako said easily, leaning an elbow on the armrest. “But we both know you don’t.”

 _Fuck_ , Kravitz thought, knowing exactly how right Taako was. Saying the obvious, that Taako had read his notes and knew exactly what he liked, wasn’t going to fly. He licked his lips and tugged at an earlobe. “I like being touched,” he murmured. 

“I didn’t ask what you liked, I asked what you hoped I’d _do_ to you,” Taako corrected, leaning forward to pinch the inside of Kravitz’s thigh. “Bad.”

The pain sharpened his awareness of exactly who was in front of him, exactly what he wanted. There hadn’t been much of a hope for plausible deniability anyway. “Fuck me, hurt me, make me beg, I don’t care. As long as you touch me, tell me I’m doing good,” Kravitz hissed, gripping the window seat. It was probably painted all over whatever embarrassing notes Taako had read, but he felt so needy for it after it left his mouth. He lifted his eyes back to Taako whose expression softened for a moment before it closed off again. 

“You’re good at making manuals. Look me in the eyes,” he ordered, getting into Kravitz’s face. He leaned his weight on Kravitz’s thighs, talons leaving angry indents. “Give me more detail.” Flashing a little smile, he pecked Kravitz at the corner of his mouth. “Can’t give you a reward if I don’t know what you want, handsome.”

Oh, he knew.

Kravitz licked his lips, fingers twitching by his thighs. Several things came to mind and Kravitz found himself suddenly speechless. “I—,” he started, taking a deep breath. 

“Small picture,” Taako urged, thumbing Kravitz’s lower lip. “Do you want me to play with your hair?” 

“Yes,” Kravitz mumbled, the word burning his tongue and throat. He swallowed too loudly. Taako gestured for him to go on, resting his forearms on Kravitz’s shoulders. “Feathers.” His hands folded, dipped between his shoulder blades and caught some of the curls at the bottom of Kravitz’s hair. Pleasure coiled to his scalp and he wanted to shut his eyes under Taako’s intense gaze, but he kept them open. 

He wanted to please him more.

Trying to calm down, he silently counted the flecks of bright colors around his pupils. “Anything with your mouth,” he went on slowly, hands curling into fists. “I want to touch you. I want you to feel good. I want to be the one who makes you feel good.” At that, he pressed his lips together tightly, embarrassed into silence. 

“Hachi machi, you’re gonna be real easy to take care of,” Taako grinned, standing between Kravitz’s legs, hands running over his hips. He leaned in, nipping under Kravitz’s ear. “An easy, pretty bird,” he murmured, lips and breath hot against Kravitz’s ear. Kravitz moaned and Taako guided his hand to his cock. Kravitz could feel brushing feel it heavy on his thigh. “A pretty, pretty bird I’m going to nail to that bed,” he whispered, Kravitz working him in a slow, steady rhythm. “Or maybe I’ll try this out.” His hand dropped to Kravitz’s cock, thumbing the barbell. 

“Yes,” Kravitz gasped, letting his head fall against the glass and biting his lip. 

Taako panted softly into his ear, wrapping his hand over Kravitz’s and stopping the motion. He murmured a spell against Kravitz’s ear, his tongue flicking Kravitz’s trembling tips on each arcane syllable. His hands went under Kravitz’s thighs and he lifted him effortlessly, tossing him onto the bed. Kravitz landed with a bounce, turned on despite knowing it was magic. Taako rolled onto the bed and crawled over Kravitz’s body, kissing him down into the bed. 

Kravitz dared not touch until he was told. He concentrated on Taako’s silver tongue in his mouth, fisting the sheets to keep his hands to himself. Taako pulled back, breathless. “You can really kiss, homie,” he grinned, pinching Kravitz’s cheek lightly. “Stay put.” He got up to grab the silver ribbon from the table. Eyeing it, he unraveled a length of the ribbon and cut it by biting through with his teeth. “Can I put this around your neck?” 

Kravitz hesitated, head turning back up at the ceiling. “Yes,” he said softly. 

“Sit up,” Taako ordered. “On your knees.” Kravitz sat up, pushing himself to his knees on the bed, looking at Taako. “Hold your hair up.” Slowly, he took his hair and wound it into a bun, holding it in place with one hand. Taako stood in front of him, tugging at Kravitz’s nipple ring with a smirk. “Put your other hand above your head, too. Don’t move until I give you permission to.”

Swallowing, Kravitz put his other hand on his head and locked his fingers together. He was painfully aware of his erection and felt suddenly exposed. Taako ran a finger down his mark of service, from the blue of his bottom lip to the base at his collarbone. He wrapped the ribbon around Kravitz’s neck and tied it extravagantly so Kravitz felt like a present. 

A flurry of fireworks boomed outside the window. The silver of Taako’s own mark of service caught and reflected them as he adjusted the loops of the bow. He took a step back, crossing his arms. “Spread your legs like that,” he chirped, sliding onto the table to sit. “Keep your eyes up, chin down. Go slow. I’ll tell you when to stop.” Kravitz tilted his head down and shifted carefully, moving so he didn’t topple over. Anticipation boiled away in his stomach as he watched Taako play with himself idly, hand occasionally brushing his thighs or giving himself a quick stroke. It was torture. Kravitz licked his lips, wanting to beg, but Taako had punished him before for talking out of turn. 

Finally, “Stop. Cross your ankles without moving your knees.” Taako walked back over to the bed, smiling approvingly as Kravitz followed his instructions. Kravitz practically glowed under it, pushing his face into shyness, softness. Something Taako probably wanted to see on him. Not pride and greed and lust. 

Though considering it was _Taako_ , maybe that would be so commonplace he wouldn’t notice. 

Kravitz bit back a grin and tried for big, long-lashed longing eyes instead. Taako’s smile widened into amusement and he laughed. “Adorable,” he snickered. “Elbows on the bed, ass in the air. Keep your hands in your hair, bubala. Keep your hair up.”

Kravitz fell forward, lifting his hips in the air and keeping his legs in position as much as he could. He kept his head down, looking at Taako from under his lashes. The old instructions were still in play, no matter how tantalizingly close Taako’s dick was to his mouth. 

Taako grabbed his chin, rubbing the tip of his cock on Kravitz’s cheek. “First,” Taako started, putting a hand on top of Kravitz’s. He turned Kravitz’s face, pushing the head against Kravitz’s lips. “Open your mouth. I’m gonna give you a reason to preen for me.” 

Not so much an invitation, but Kravitz would gladly take it. Kravitz took him in his mouth eagerly, Taako thrusting in without an ounce of gentleness. He choked, cutting off his breathing and letting Taako use him. Struggling to stay in place, Kravitz grunted between thrusts. He did his best to use his tongue and mouth as best he could. Swiping on the tip, sucking and licking all the while. Taako’s hands held his in place tightly, fucking his mouth and groaning. 

“Like that. More tongue. Good bird,” he panted, one hand falling to the bow around his neck and sliding under, pinching his nape. Kravitz felt the ribbon tighter now, the control he’d given over to Taako. Taako was too greedy to shove Kravitz away in time, ensuring Kravitz swallowed down a mouthful of cum before Taako finished on his face with a choked moan. He pumped his cock through it, making sure he got Kravitz’s face in the whole ordeal.

Kravitz shifted anxiously while he waited for the order and tried not to rut against the bed, cum dripping from his cheeks onto the sheets. The need to wipe away the mess in his hair and feathers was hard to ignore. He licked his lips, gripping the sheets. Taako finally recovered enough to give Kravitz a lazy, approving smile. 

“Pretty,” he panted and Kravitz felt his face lighting up. “I’ll let you stay like that a while.” Kravitz pushed down a whine. Taako laughed, thumbing the mess sliding into Kravitz’s feathers. “Don’t be so disappointed, homie. You’ve been a good bird for me.” He walked around the bed slowly. Kravitz kept his eyes forward. The bed dipped behind him. Taako’s breath ghosted across his ass cheeks. He spread them apart, tongue flicking against the part as he whispered a spell. 

_Oh_.

Kravitz did his damndest not to squirm, cum cooling on his cheeks. Slick fingers pressed circled his ass, sinking inside. He clenched around them as Taako tittered in surprise. “And where did you do this, handsome? In the locker room while I was packing up to leave? ‘S that why the door was locked?”

His face burned. “Yes,” he murmured. He’d never be able to masturbate in there again knowing that Taako _did_ use it. 

“Hot,” Taako laughed, pushing his tongue into Kravitz without preamble. Kravitz’s breath hitched, eyes fluttering close as Taako fondled his balls and fucked him with his tongue. He felt himself teetering towards the edge when Taako pulled away. At that, Kravitz actually did whine, fingers digging into his scalp and toes in the sheet. 

“You wanna come on me or in me?” 

Kravitz’s eyes went wide and his breath stuttered. “In,” he managed, remembering how much Taako wanted to ride his piercing. 

“Roll over,” he ordered, patting the outside of Kravitz’s thigh. Kravitz rolled, keeping his hands up and spreading his legs approximately where they’d been before, crossing his ankles. Taako took a deep breath looking at him. “Hoo boy, you’ve been doin’ this whole sub thing for awhile, I bet,” he grinned, straddling Kravitz’s hips. He positioned himself over his cock eagerly and Kravitz learned he wasn’t the only one who had come prepared. 

Running a hand through Kravitz’s messy feathers, he sank down with a loud moan that covered Kravitz’s. He leaned forward, bunching feathers in his fingers. “Fuck, you’re a big guy,” he swore clenching around Kravitz. “Fuck.” He arched his back, covering his eyes with one hand. “Oh _fuck_ ,” he moaned, hips bucking. 

“Please,” Kravitz begged weakly, forcing himself into place. 

“Gods, don’t,” Taako groaned, starting to move. His hand slid down his face, fingers loosely over his mouth. “I _refuse_ to come twice before you come once,” he said so seriously that Kravitz couldn’t hold back a laugh. “Ugh, fuck, that piercing is—,” he cut himself off with a faint noise of pleasure, moving quicker. “Shit,” he whispered, moving his hips in a way that made made both of them cry out. 

Watching Taako lose whatever persona he was putting on was enough for Kravitz. His fingers clenched in his hair and he broke over the edge, Taako riding him through his orgasm. It’d been a while and he had a lot to give. 

Taako stayed seated when Kravitz finished, pumping his cock once, twice and coming over Kravitz’s chest and stomach. Taako rolled off of him, covering his face. “You may take your hands out of your hair,” he allowed, peeking at Kravitz through his fingers. “You can clean yourself after you clean me.” He spread his legs and invitingly, cum wet down his thighs. “Thoroughly.” 

Kravitz didn’t need to be told twice to keep Taako’s taunting, mesmeric eyes on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all will enjoy this series I've been writing on my other twitter for about a month or so now. I sailed right past 30K words and figured it deserved a proper AO3 publication.


	2. Disconnecting My Mouth From My Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The clock dictates the day. A gift of an apology goes awry.

The clock on the wall pointed to the early hour. The room was a mess, but Taako didn’t feel he had a place to judge it. He watched Kravitz with a tired smile, hair sprawled across the pillows. Kravitz’s fingers fumbled up the buttons of his shirt, hastily tucking it into the hem of his pants.

“Are you goin’ to be able to walk back?” 

Kravitz paused, then went back to lacing up his boots. There was an obvious limp in his gait that would only be relieved with rest. The angry stripes of talons and splatters of bruising bites would need a little more time. Taako had put a lot of sweat and other things into making sure Kravitz would feel his hands days after he’d left. He wouldn’t mind if he stayed around long enough for Kravitz to feel his lips, too.

“I’ve been through worse,” Kravitz grunted, straightening and tying his cravat. It felt like a cross between an insult and a challenge. He hardly looked like a man who’d been softly begging for more not an hour earlier, moaning at every dirty, arcane word Taako had spilled in his ear. There wasn’t a hair out of place now that he’d had a moment to collect himself. 

“Pretty bird,” Taako teased, rolling on his back, face still turned towards Kravitz. 

Kravitz froze and bowed his head. His tongue darted out to lick his lips and he spared an almost shy look up at Taako. Taako had been a con-bird long enough to recognize a practiced gesture when he saw it. Besides that he’d worked with Kravitz too long to think he was shy. 

Boy, if three months wasn’t too long for _anyone_ to work with Kravitz.

He grinned to himself, much more charmed knowing it was purposeful. “Come here,” he chirped, gesturing towards the side of the bed. Kravitz hesitated for a moment with a glance at the clock, but walked over slowly and sunk to the rug. Taako touched Kravitz’s hair, making him wince away. He pushed his hand more firmly into Kravitz’s hair, teasing it out of the carefully crafted bun. Kravitz bit his lip and leaned on the bed, breath hitching. 

The comforting sensation of grooming made Taako’s eyes droop low. It wasn’t meant to draw Kravitz out like it was. He slowed his hands to make it more soothing – and less erotic – for Kravitz, too. Kravitz stopped muffling moans into the sheets, bumping his head up against Taako’s hand greedily. Brushing a hand down the side of Kravitz’s neck made him shudder and Taako bit off a laugh. 

“Chill,” he murmured, nudging Kravitz under the chin. Kravitz looked as tired as Taako felt, now. “Weren’t you going back to the castle, handsome?” 

Turning his head slowly, Kravitz blinked at the clock for a few moments. “Yes,” he rasped, glancing at Taako mournfully. He clearly wanted Taako to tell him to stay. 

“Go on,” Taako snorted impatiently, shooing Kravitz with a snappy wave of his hand. A part of him almost hoped Kravitz wouldn’t listen only to be contrary.

Kravitz frowned sharply, looking offended. “Right,” Kravitz hissed, pulling himself to his feet. “I expect you in the office by nine am on the dot, Taako,” he growled as he shoved his mask into place. 

Taako would never cease to be amazed that people actually wore masks in a sex club slash brothel. Like him, Kravitz had paid his piece of gold for the room. Then again, unlike him, Kravitz actually seemed to care about his position. The Conspiracy was too cruel to overlook someone like The Grim Reaper not being the paragon of reapers in public. 

“I’ll be there if you are, pretty bird,” Taako winked, stretching and kicking the sheets down his legs to give Kravitz a good, last look. Kravitz swept out of the door with a scowl and his cloak billowing behind him. 

The second the door closed, Taako burst into raucous laughter. He held his stomach and curled on his side, tittering to himself. Rolling around the empty bed and grinning, he managed to calm down by degrees. Getting to ruin his ungrateful boss’s pristine makeup was going to be a treasured memory. Or maybe the begging or how easy he’d been to undo or the way he’d cleaned both of them with his mouth like he’d worshipped Taako’s skin or that _piercing_ —. Taako stopped, looking down at his hands. Maybe, some of those would be kept around for other reasons than being able to imagine cum dripping from his face anytime Kravitz yelled at him. 

He groaned when he felt his body stirring with interest at the replay. Reaper stamina wasn’t something he even _wanted_ to get used to. He hadn’t believed anyone who said they didn’t need to eat or sleep until he’d seen Kravitz work for three months straight without a single break for a proper meal. 

Taako turned over and closed his eyes stubbornly. He lasted for ten minutes of squirming and rolling over before he was reaching under the sheets to try to get some relief. Turning his head and shuddering, he panted into the pillow. His skin was still sensitive where Kravitz’s lips had bruised – revered, his mind helpfully supplied – it. The fantasy, fresh in his mind, was easy to grasp. He let himself slip into it, moaning raggedly at the things he’d love to do to Kravitz. 

The way Kravitz would look, sinking down on Taako’s cock while he sat in Kravitz’s leather chair. His slacks just far enough down his thighs to fuck with Taako’s skirt bunched at his waist. Taako wanted to stain the collar of his shirt red with lipstick so he couldn’t hide it afterwards. Everyone would come into that office knowing Taako had made him beg while sitting in his chair. 

He wouldn’t let Kravitz come until he’d finished inside him. Then, he’d let Kravitz walk around the desk and bend over it, looking at Taako while he finished himself with a toy. 

It didn’t take him long. 

He gave up on sleeping completely after an hour and used the bathroom to clean himself up, muttering swears under his breath. At least, he really would be able to see if Kravitz managed to recover enough to make it into the office by nine. He put on his robes and left the room as it was, going down to eat breakfast in the lounge. Most of the people there kept their masks on, carefully avoiding eye contact. 

He grinned to himself as he drank the tea they brought him. No one would catch him slipping one of those things on. Taako was more than happy to be seen committing taboos. The Conspiracy could be vicious, but the fact that Taako would be delighted if he was fired had been off-putting to more than one raven-feathered Shadar-kai. 

They’d more or less left him alone. Maybe a mumbled insult about parrot-feathers, but it wasn’t like Taako cared. He eyed a raven-feathered woman who looked at him with a spark of recognition. Taako sipped his tea and flipped her the bird. If she hadn’t recognized him before, she certainly did now. 

After breakfast, he walked the block to his apartment. “I’m home,” he called to the empty rooms, cramming his keys onto a side table with a dozen rumpled magazines on magic and cooking. The only reply was the echo of his own voice. Lup must have already left for the gym. He gave himself a moment to miss her before he shrugged it off with a soft sigh.

Dressing for work was, normally, an exercise in how close he could get to sweatpants until Kravitz stopped in front of his desk to glare with his cheeks puffed out. This day was going to be about how provocative he could get to ensure Kravitz couldn’t even look him in the eyes. A skirt with a long slit up the side, a ruffled shirt with lace edging, and high heels he borrowed from Lup’s room – but he was sure were his – would probably do the trick. Although their professional relationship had been fraught with fury, Taako had seen what made Kravitz pause. 

There were things a high-collar shirt could do to a man like Kravitz and Taako intended to do every single one of them that day.

He kept himself entertained until eight thirty by making lunch. Something with noodles he’d finish cooking in the dented red pot he carried to work with him. The round, marbled lobby of the castle was muted this early in the morning. It held only haggard reapers returning from the Material plane or emerging for a coffee break from the depths of Hell. One or two who had been in training with Taako greeted him politely just under their breaths so no one else would hear. 

Only Kravitz and Taako worked in the Queen’s wing, one of nine disjointed, twisting spokes of Kravitz castle. Despite its name, Taako hadn’t ever felt the powerful sweep of Her presence. He’d felt it in the office sometimes in fragmented pieces. It always set him on edge and both of them were more vicious to each other throughout the day. He was really hoping She wouldn’t make an appearance today. No matter how flippantly he viewed Kravitz’s role in worship of Her, he knew better than to piss off _the_ goddess. 

He took a seat at his desk, organizing the mail that’d been left in deliveries. At least the newspaper had come with its usual doom and gloom. Taako managed to keep himself busy with a crossword puzzle until nine, looking up briefly when the clock chimed. He grinned and sat back, striking a pose. 

Five minutes passed without a sign of Kravitz. 

Taako sighed and stood up, shoving his chair back and slamming his quill on his desk. The one time he’s on time. He went down the hallway, throwing open the door to each empty office as he went. He knew one of them was where Kravitz kept his stuff. Finally, he found one with a bucket resting near a pile of meticulously cleaned china clearly nicked from the dining hall. 

_Bingo_.

He opened his mouth to shout, jumping onto the desk hiding Kravitz’s little bed and grinning down. Slowly, he closed his mouth, grin slipping from his face into something softer. 

Sitting by his aunt’s feet and listening to her stories while sharing a blanket with Lup was long enough ago that he felt like the memory wasn’t even his. She told them stories of the Reapers and what age could do to them. That some, with their indefinite service, became less like the people they’d been in their previous lives and more like birds. 

What he’d taken to be a random – if oddly messy – pile of stuff in one corner of Kravitz’s small room, he saw for what it was. Kravitz was curled up, soundly asleep in his little nest. He was barely visible under the multitude of mismatched, patched blankets. Taako only noticed him when he rolled over and chirped in his sleep. Somehow, he didn’t knock down the wall of coins and other junk he’d built around it. It looked warm and comfortable.

Taako had – and ignored – the inexplicable urge to join him. 

Instead of giving in, he shouted, “Kravitz, you’re late for work!” Three things happened. First, Kravitz woke up with a startled peep. Second, Taako grunted in pain as his back slammed into the wall. Third, Kravitz blinked slowly like he was still trying to wake up and dropped the knife he was holding.

Taako hadn’t even really seen him cross the room. He nudged the knife with the toe of his heel while Kravitz backed off and tried to get his bearings. “You must be a delight the morning after, handsome,” Taako frowned, staring him down until his eyes dropped down Kravitz’s body. Somehow, it didn’t surprise him Kravitz slept nude. Kravitz followed his gaze and froze.

“My alarm didn’t go off,” he mumbled, darting into the closet. Taako rolled his eyes and went to the nest to take a closer look. 

“No apology for attempted murder, I see,” he complained, flicking one of the coins on top of the edges of the nest’s border. 

Most of the trinkets seemed held in place by something though Taako couldn’t begin to guess what. “What’s the time?” Kravitz called hurriedly. Curious, Taako took a seat. It was exactly as comfortable as it looked. “Taako?” Kravitz poked his head out of the closet and froze. 

The look Kravitz gave him wasn’t the anger or annoyance he’d expected. No, Taako had spent enough time searching for that look the night before. There was no way he’d fail, now, to recognize the hunger sharpening Kravitz’s pretty eyes or the lust that pursed his tempting lips. He sprawled across the nest and winked at Kravitz.

Kravitz closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and retreated behind the door. “Get off my bed,” he growled, safely hidden inside the closet. 

“You don’t have a bed, homie,” Taako laughed, picking up an engagement ring from a pile under some of the pillows. It was much nicer than he knew Kravitz could afford. “Do you pull this junk off your bounties?”

“They don’t need it anymore,” Kravitz replied, emerging in only his slacks and socks. “If you don’t get out, you won’t need those heels for much longer either,” he warned, waving a shirt at Taako in a vaguely threatening manner 

Smirking, Taako kicked his shoes off. “Take ‘em,” he grinned, wiggling his bare toes over the edge of Kravitz’s wall of knick-knacks. With a glare, Kravitz stepped over and Taako briefly wondered if he was going to bodily remove him from the nest. Instead, he leaned down and sat the heels upright. He stepped into them and went back to the closet without another glance. 

Hoo boy, Taako thought, but he did look good in heels. He sat up cross-legged with his skirt bunched uncomfortably at his thighs and hips. “Hey,” he called after him, “I’m only half-sure those aren’t Lup’s.” 

“I’m a hundred percent sure they aren’t Lup’s, because they’re mine now,” Kravitz said matter-of-factly, buttoning his shirt just past the doorway. He grabbed a brush and swept his long hair into a bun. 

It wasn’t fair how attractive he made everything, Taako thought bitterly, distracted by the curls against his cheeks until Kravitz shoved them into place with a bobby pin. Fuming quietly, Taako hid himself under a blanket. If Kravitz wouldn’t give his shoes back, he wouldn’t give his nest back either.

Glancing over, Kravitz narrowed his eyes and hissed a sigh. “Fine,” he spat and swooped down, trying to grab Taako around the middle to pick him up. It was a good try, but he’d obviously forgotten that even Taako – as boring as his job was – trained in basic combat. He swept Kravitz’s legs from under him and flipped them, straddling his hips. 

Actually, he was rather proud of himself for catching The Grim Reaper off-guard; without the surprise he almost certainly wouldn’t have been able to do it. Prouder still of the heat he could almost feel radiating from Kravitz’s face. “Pretty bird, all dressed up for me,” he grinned, leaning on his elbows and pressing his nose to Kravitz’s. Kravitz closed his eyes and turned his face away, hands fluttering over Taako’s hips. “I don’t like this shirt, bubala,” he murmured against Kravitz’s neck, making him shudder under Taako’s thighs. He didn’t mind the shirt, but he was curious what Kravitz would do. 

“W-work,” Kravitz protested, regaining some of his composure. Enough to shove Taako aside and bolt to the closet. Taako curled into the blankets with a grin as Kravitz started unbuttoning his shirt. “I’m late and you’re not there to redirect people who need to see me,” he said more to himself than Taako. Tossing the shirt on the floor, he grabbed the nice one he’d worn the day before. 

Apparently, his teasing had struck home; Kravitz really had dressed for Taako. Taako freed himself from the nest and straightened his skirt, wrapping his arms around Kravitz from behind. Kravitz stiffened against his chest, but Taako pressed a kiss to his temple to soothe him. “What’s the sexy underclothes sitch like, pretty bird?” Taako asked against the side of Kravitz’s neck, talons dipping into the hem of his slacks. 

“Nothing,” Kravitz murmured, putting a hand on top of Taako’s. Either to stop or encourage, Taako didn’t know. 

Taako pulled away momentarily, hiking his skirt high enough to get his thumbs in the hem of his lace panties. “Don’t move,” he ordered and Kravitz stopped mid-turn, snapping forward with his chin held up high. He slipped them down and stepped out of the dainty black things. Slotting himself behind Kravitz, he pushed the panties into his hands. “Borrow mine,” he laughed, grinning wickedly at the shiver Kravitz gave against him. 

“It’s already late—,” Kravitz tried to protest. 

“I’ll go back to the office, handsome. Be a good bird and take your time for me,” Taako whispered in the shell of his ear. Idly, he traced a sensitive scar on Kravitz’s hip. Kravitz let out a puff of air, face warm to the touch of Taako’s lips. “Make me think of nothin’ all day but when I can pull you into the broom closet and fuck you against a wall.” The vulgarity, Taako thought, is what made Kravitz muffle a groan against his fingers. 

Taako disappeared down to the office before Kravitz had time to think too much about or refuse his setup. He turned on the coffee maker in the corner of the waiting room and sat at his desk. Already, he was regretting not stealing a pair of Kravitz’s shoes on his way out. The cloak hanging next to the door would have to do for keeping his toes from freezing to the cold floor. 

That problem taken care of, Taako doodled a picture of himself bending Kravitz over his desk. Sure, he had real work, like sorting through the bounties to decide which were the most urgent, but he justified his goofing off with the fact that his boss still wasn’t in his office. 

Five minutes ticked by before Taako was pulling out files from his cabinet and getting some real work done between staring at the clock. He finished more quickly than he’d thought. Grabbing Kravitz’s calendar, he started updating it with all the meetings that had been made or deferred. He made himself a cup of coffee and glared at the door. 

Taako had no idea what to do with himself at work without Kravitz to pick on. The things he normally did were all done. He supposed he could clean, but Kravitz seemed to do that himself when Taako went home for the night. Actually, Kravitz did most of Taako’s job for him. He sipped his coffee, wondering how he hadn’t been fired yet. 

At least he could dream that Kravitz would be too awkward to keep him around after Taako actually did bend him over a desk. He smiled to himself and sipped more of his coffee, wondering if his aunt missed them. Lup, of course, would be fired on principle of relation to Taako. It was his fantasy, so he wasn’t too worried about all the details. Sizzlin’ It Up with Lup n’ Taako would hit the road again, surfing the sand dunes like they’d never left. 

He stared down at the drawing he’d made of their ship wagon before it’d been left in his Aunt’s garage to rot for three years.

The door creaking open almost made Taako knock his coffee off the desk. He shoved his hair back and smiled at the robin-feathered woman blinking at him from the doorway. “Yo. You here to give the boss a piece of your mind, my dude?” He fumbled to shove his agenda over the explicit doodle before she saw it. 

“Ah, no,” the woman replied, stepping up to the desk cautiously. 

“Damn. Always gotta keep the dream alive, huh?” He grinned, popping the agenda open and finding the right day. 

“Uhm,” she replied, frowning. 

“C’mon, ain’t got all day,” Taako sighed, leaning his elbow on the desk. At least rude wasn’t suspicious. 

She puffed up her chest at his urging and gave Taako a determined look. “I want his permission to marry one of his Reapers,” she pressed and stared Taako down like he’d argue. 

This wasn’t the kind of person Taako wanted to argue with, but he knew he had to. He tugged at his earlobe and averted his eyes. “Reapers are, yanno, legally married to their work or whatever. It’s part of the deal,” he said simply, pulling a pamphlet out of one of the many drawers. A part of him was glad that, before Taako had started working, Kravitz had been awkward enough to prepare pamphlets about even the most trivial aspect of Reaper life. 

The woman batted it aside the moment he offered it to her, scoffing with offense. “ _She_ didn’t agree to the deal,” she argued, tapping a talon on the top of Taako’s desk. 

Taako snorted, feathers ruffled by how combative she was being. He put a hand over his chest as if to smooth them down. “Do I look like the guy in charge of this shit?” She paused, huffing and looking aside. “The dude you wanna yell at is, uh, busy out of the office or whatever. Can you come back in an hour?” 

She shook her head and sat down. “I’ll wait for him to come in if that’s fine,” she insisted, crossing her arms. 

It wasn’t fine, but Taako didn’t want to argue anymore and there wasn’t anything technically wrong with it. Only his own annoyance and impatience. “Whatever,” he huffed, picking up one of the spellbooks he kept at hand and flipping it open to his bookmark. Normally, he’d gesture at the coffee or water, but Taako didn’t feel like she deserved it. 

He skimmed the same page four times, starting over every time he glanced up at the clock and its unmoving hands. It taunted him with its ticks and tocks that seemed to go nowhere. The woman turned her head and coughed, flipping through the magazines. 

_Finally_ , the door clicked open and Kravitz poked his head in. “Taako, I—,” he started with a pleading softness to his voice. He caught sight of the woman and straightened, opening the door more fully. Clearing his throat, he obviously tried to play the part of The Grim Reaper, “A visitor?” 

This was too good not to laugh, but Taako managed to swallow it back with a grin. “Uh huh, boss. Get yourself sorted for your busy schedule today?” Sure, he didn’t _have_ to add the smirk to his words. It felt good to watch Kravitz’s pretty painted lips twitch to keep himself from yelling in front of other people. 

“Please, we’ll talk in my office,” he offered and turned away from Taako, clasping his hands together. The robin-feathered woman followed Kravitz to his office. Kravitz closed the door behind them. Smirking, Taako sat back, kicking his feet on his desk with the tome in hand. The raised voices started right when he’d expected them to. 

Not exactly yelling, but whatever civil discussion it had started as was now spiralling around the original point. He could hear beats of it.

“ _It is fine if you date, but she must focus on the work we do to keep the planes in order._ ”

“ _Being married won’t be any more distracting than anything else. It’s her choice to marry. Her choice. Not yours, not even Our Lady’s._ ”

“ _I am sorry I must say this, but—. The moment her service is finished, she will die and—._ ”

A pause. Quiet and sad. Taako’s eyes found the ship wagon, the word ‘ _Lup_ ’.

“ _I know. I know she will die. Don’t you think I know that?! Doesn’t she deserve to be happy until she does? If she must give everything, give her this. Please._ ”

She loved being a reaper. 

He startled when the door opened, the woman looking smug and victorious as she left. Taako sat his book down and rolled his chair the foot or so to Kravitz’s doorway. “I hate you,” Kravitz growled, muffled against his arms with his head on the desk. 

“What’d she worm out of you, handsome?” Taako snickered, not at all guilty for whatever Kravitz blamed him for. He stretched his legs out to put his bare feet on the doorframe, crossed at the ankle. It would be a pretty picture for whenever Kravitz looked up. 

“ _Sylvia_ ,” he snarled, throwing his hands up without moving his head, “has a meeting with me in a week if Our Lady is willing to hear her pleas. Which I must arrange and— No, _you_ are going to do it, Taako. Come up with a good reason why she, out of all of us, should have permission to marry. Convince Death of it.” He finally looked up, momentarily distracted the image Taako had struck. 

Taako narrowed his eyes, grimacing. “Exactly how is any of that anything but your fault, homie?” He let his feet drop back to the ground. 

“I couldn’t think of anything but taking off these—. The _thing_ you gave me,” Kravitz turned his face away, covering his mouth. 

Taako’s eyebrows shot up. His smile returned slowly, all teeth and fangs between his curled lips. “You’re the one who couldn’t handle wearing a pair of panties, babe,” he laughed, all the meanness of it intended. Kravitz kept his eyes averted, looking miserable. “You didn’t have to, if you didn’t _want_ to,” Taako added with a jab of his finger to punctuate his point. He got to his feet, immediately circling around Kravitz who was trying very hard not to look at him. “But you _really_ wanted to, huh, pretty bird? Did you want me to coo and stroke your feathers and tell you how good you are?”

Maybe it was just on the side of cruel, but he had a feeling it wasn’t too far yet. “It doesn’t matter,” Kravitz whispered, burying his face in his hands. Taako detoured to slam the door shut, watching Kravitz jolt at the noise. 

“Stand up and look at me,” he ordered before Kravitz could think of scolding him. 

Kravitz put his palms flat against the desk, lips thinning in anger. An expression that was a normal part of their professional relationship. 

“Sorry, did you wanna yell at me or do you wanna be touched?” Taako grabbed Kravitz’s chin from across the desk, bringing the glare up to Taako’s. “Choice is yours.” 

Kravitz jerked his head away and stood, fists balled at his sides. “Out,” he snarled, pointing at the door. 

Rolling his eyes, Taako turned and went to the door, pulling to open hard enough it knocked against the door jam. He sat back in his chair and crossed his legs. Fuming, Kravitz straightened the jostled bookshelves. He sat at his desk and they glared at each other. 

Taako rolled back to his desk and made as much noise as possible. He dumped his coffee out in Kravitz’s beloved ficus so he could get up to get more. Two steps over to the coffee table, he had a good idea. Kravitz’s mug was was right where he wanted it. 

He’d had to watch Kravitz make tea so many times that he knew exactly what the man liked. Which was exactly why Taako dumped enough sugar in it to make syrup. He smiled to himself as he walked into Kravitz’s office. “Sir?”

“What?” Kravitz snapped, looking up at Taako like he was expecting a fight. 

Taako went for a smile as sweet as the tea, circling behind Kravitz. Putting a casual hand on Kravitz’s shoulder, he leaned over him to set the mug down. He stayed close, leaning in like he was sharing a secret. “Maybe I was too much of an asshole,” he murmured against his ear. Nothing he meant, but he had always been good at pretending like he did. “I know you’re busy, handsome. Take this as a peace offering.” 

All of Kravitz’s edges softened immediately. He turned his head to smile at Taako. “Thank you,” he said and meant it. 

“Even cooled it down with a spell for ya,” Taako grinned, taking a step back and biting his lip not to laugh. 

Kravitz smiled with a hand against his chest and picked up the mug to drink. His eyes hardened with disgust, but he forced himself to keep a smile on his face. The corners of Taako’s lips twitched to hold in his laughter. “Ah, you make your tea really sweet,” he coughed, covering his mouth and putting the mug down. 

“Mhm,” Taako hummed, waving and exiting the office. It was a petty revenge, but it was good enough. Especially since the treasurer showed his face as soon as Taako sat back down. That was never a good start to the day for Kravitz. Taako glanced down at the calendar and decided to be prepared for actual visitors. He tapped out a missive on his typewriter, ordering some lemonade and whatever snacks they could scrounge together. He slipped it into the mail trolley and clicked flicked through his index cards for the kitchen codes. It always went missing. Usually to Kravitz’s office. 

He groaned and made two cups of tea, setting them on a tray and knocking politely. Muffled, tense voices stopped and Taako took that as his sign to enter. “Ya’ll have been in here for a while. Thought you could use something to drink,” he smiled, offering the tray to the treasurer and nicking the index card off of Kravitz’s desk as he leaned down. 

“Thank you,” the treasurer sighed and took the teacup, blowing on it. 

Kravitz had a list in front of him, most of it marked in red ink. “Thank you,” he murmured and set his empty mug on the tray. Taako straightened and started to leave. “Lord Treasurer, we cannot simply let go of any Reapers. Our Lady is building Her army. We must invest in more trade routes with the Material Plane as the Princess directed.” 

He lingered by the door. “Even you don’t know why She builds, Lord Kravitz. If She has stopped guiding us through you then perhaps—.” Taako felt the chill of Her presence and the violence that instantly hit his gut. He clenched his teeth and slammed the tray on his desk before he dashed it against the tiles, clenching his fists at his side. 

“Some things are better for us not to know,” Kravitz said distantly, voice an untroubled rumble. “We must trust She knows what She is doing. It is not my position to question nor the one I would worry for, _Lord Treasurer_.” Taako slipped into his seat as the treasurer stepped out of the room. The treasurer looked more annoyed than frightened. 

Unlike Taako. 

He rubbed his temples when the treasurer left. Taako wondered if The Conspiracy had learned to tolerate Her appearances. Kravitz appeared in the office doorway and gave Taako a sympathetic look. “There’s fifteen minutes until my next meeting. You can go smoke,” he said softly.

Taako shook his head and raided his drawers for his pipe. “I’m going to smoke right here, handsome,” he said simply. He stuffed the end of his pipe with orange blossoms and struck a match against the side of his desk. 

Kravitz gave him a reproachful look, fingers drumming against the top of Taako’s desk. “You felt Her come in, then?” 

Taako snorted, puffing on his pipe and blowing out silver and gold smoke that snapped and popped like fireworks. “What do you fuckin’ think, homie?” 

“She doesn’t mean to frighten you,” Kravitz soothed, tone like he took on during his sermons. “I’ve suspected for a while that you’re—.”

“Go play priest somewhere else,” Taako snapped, flicking his ashes and hating that he didn’t wince when they hit his bare knees. He seethed at the holes burning into his stockings. Kravitz’s nostrils flared and he leaned over the desk, grabbing the pipe out of Taako’s mouth. “Hey!”

He offered it back after a quick puff. “If this is how you’re going to be the rest of the day, we’ll both need it,” he sighed, blowing out smoke that twisted blue and dropped out of his mouth like music note shaped anchors. 

Taako snatched it from Kravitz and glared at Kravitz until he went back to his office. _Asshole_ , he thought, tapping his ashes into the ficus. It at least took the edge off the violence in his chest. The smoke softened to purples that drifted from his lips like waves. He leaned his head back on the chair and kicked his feet onto the desk. 

At the edge of his consciousness, a man leaned close. The sunlight streamed through his hair, swept back by a ribbon. Taako had never seen sunlight but a part of him understood that was the thing that shimmered in his eyes and highlighted the white in his curls. Behind him, the ocean was wide and hopeful and endless. 

A raven flew from his desk into a grate by the ceiling. 

He startled out of his doze, staring around the empty room and catching the tail feathers of the raven as it fled. The door opened and a glance at the clock told Taako the next meeting was five minutes late. She went past Taako with barely a glance, closing Kravitz’s door behind her. He slipped the lemonade and cookies onto the coffee table and stared at the condensation dripping down the pitcher. A part of him knew what that had been.

The reason Lup spent more and more time at work. 

He retraced his steps back to his desk and touched the ring on his right hand. _Sunlight_ , he thought as he put it on his left ring finger. _Ocean._ He pursed his lips and stared down at it. _Marriage._ He twisted the ring off and dropped it in the drawer. 

Whoever that person was – whoever he had been – was dead. 

They were gone and didn’t matter anymore. Taako took a breath, straightened, and took out the reports from his delivery pile. This was his life and no one was going to take it from him. Most definitely not whatever asshole had seen a man in front of an ocean of tomorrow and was stupid enough to hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Split up the original Chapter 2 as I started brushing against 10k words.


	3. Tell Me to Stay the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe this could be something regular. For logical reasons, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My friend [Glace](http://glaceleau.tumblr.com/) drew [this](https://twitter.com/GlaceLeau/status/937450076292595717) wonderful snippet from a future chapter for my birthday.
> 
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From Taako’s view, it looked like Kravitz was having a shitty day without his help. The next meeting was about an important rift that had started to go rogue and was becoming dangerous. It left Kravitz with his head on his desk, arms over his head. Feeling generous, Taako took pity brought him another cup of tea without sugar. 

“Thank you,” Kravitz whispered, sitting up to take a sip. “You make this tea well.” He took another sip of it with a soft, small smile. 

“I’ve watched you make tea everyday, homie. You always make it wrong,” Taako retorted, leaning against the arm of the plush visitor chair. The sharpness of his words helped take the skip out of his heart. “Too hot for this kind of tea.” 

“If you can do better, feel free to make all my tea from here on out,” Kravitz grinned briefly around the rim of his mug. 

Taako found his traitorous mouth quirking in an echo of Kravitz’s smile. He pushed it down and spun the silver tray in his hands. “Order a stove for the break room and we’ll see about it, handsome,” he shrugged. “I won’t waste spell slots on you.”

“Seems you already did,” Kravitz replied with a smirk.

Caught, Taako waved his hand vaguely. “Naw, been burning your fire scrolls, homie,” he lied, waving a hand. Lup could probably use a couple castle-stolen spell scrolls anyway.

“Taako,” Kravitz warned, setting down his cup hard enough to clink. 

Sensing a lecture, Taako finger-gunned out of the room. He stood for a moment with his back against the door, taking a breath. 

Not there was much for Taako to antagonize Kravitz about throughout the rest of the day. Someone must have declared it was ‘ _yell at Kravitz without a break_ ’ day. The topics ranged from crude graffiti on a building to a hoard of zombies that the reapers were having particular trouble dealing with. 

By the time Taako was packing up to leave, the last meeting concluded with a reaper woman who looked vaguely familiar storming out of Kravitz’s office and shouting, “It’s improper!” She gave Taako an acidic look on her way out. Taako peered into Kravitz’s office to see he was no more than bones, hellfire eyes aimed at the ceiling. It clicked that the woman had been the one he saw at breakfast and he had a good idea what they’d been talking about.

“I’m clocking out,” he mumbled, hoping Kravitz hadn’t heard him and he could slink out unnoticed. This could be a problem for Tomorrow Taako. 

“Taako, we need to talk,” Kravitz replied without moving. Taako swore under his breath and tossed himself into the plush chair across from Kravitz. The hellfire in Kravitz’s eye sockets moved and gave Taako the vague impression he was being watched. “How often do you go to that place?”

Snorting, Taako crossed his arms. “None of your fuckin’ business,” he hissed. 

“Fine,” Kravitz intoned, not moving. “Go home.”

That wasn’t what he expected, but Taako let it go, jumping out of his chair and stalking out of the office. He swung into the spare office before he left, stealing a pair of Kravitz’s dress shoes. Out of spite, he went straight to the club. He let Jessamine know he was in and then sat in the upstairs lounge, jerking a smutty book off the shelf and settling onto a couch. 

It felt like he’d barely started on the _The Adventures of Salty Richard_ before Sawyer knocked and yelled through the door, “Previous match coming up.” Usually he’d ask who it was, but today he didn’t care. He read through the servants making sure all the supplies were in order and waved them off when they asked if he’d like dinner. 

In the middle of Salty Richard’s third encounter with an achingly attractive pirate captain, he heard the door open again. He held up a finger, still reading. It was part of the persona as much as him wanting to find out if they had world-transforming orgasms on the high seas. People wanted him because they wanted him to make them work for the reward. 

Finally, he bookmarked the page and sat it aside. “At least you’re good at listening,” he grinned, turning and freezing. Kravitz was leaning against the door, fleshy once again, with his hands behind his back. “Look who it is,” Taako grinned, all teeth and fangs. 

“Taako, I—,” Kravitz started, stepping forward. 

“Tell me why you’re here and keep it short,” Taako ordered, shoving himself to his feet and getting Kravitz’s face. 

Kravitz frowned, leaning against the door again and sighing deeply. His face changed to something more detached. “Our Lady has been worried I’ll overwork myself to oblivion. She has mandated I take _breaks_ ,” he explained crisply, professionally. “It has been three months, but I still find myself being pulled into work.” When Taako had been called into service. 

Taako grinned, trapping Kravitz between his arms as he leaned against the door. “Why me?”

“To reduce damage to both of us. Being matched with another Reaper was going to happen eventually, a ticking time bomb of vulnerability. Normally, it would be highly improper, but your dismissal, salary, and position are directly handled by Our Lady,” Kravitz said evenly. Taako blinked, this was news to him. “You already know and I’m getting scolded for what you do anyway.” He looked away and his mask of flesh wilted into his skull. It left nothing more than a skeleton between Taako’s arms; a testament to how much this had been weighing on Kravitz. 

Still, Taako didn’t have much pity for the man. “And you like it,” he smirked, wondering what his expression would be if he had his face on. Probably mortified and trying to pretend he didn’t know what words were. 

Instead, the hellfire blinked on and off slowly. “Yes,” he relented. “Your _methods_ are effective at reducing my levels of stress.” The front of buzzwords made Taako laugh into the palm of his hand. 

“That’s a fancy way of saying you like it when I make you beg for my dick,” he grinned, leaning forward. The hellfire entirely disappeared and Taako lost it, tossing his head back. “Are you asking to see me regularly, _boss_?” 

The bones against the door rattled, hellfire still missing from them. “Yes,” Kravitz whispered. “Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays from six until nine in the evenings.”

“All prepared and eager for it,” Taako grinned, flicking Kravitz in the center of his skull and stepping back to the couch. “You know what, handsome? You pay room fee for both of us and you’ve got a deal.”

“Okay,” Kravitz replied, light returning to his eye sockets. 

They’d have to take care of that soon if they were going to do anything. Taako kicked his feet onto the couch, opening up the book where he’d left off. “Come here and kneel,” he commanded, pointing to the floor next to him. Kravitz followed it without comment. Taako put a hand on the top of his skull and pushed on it lightly until he was half-laying on top of Taako’s chest. 

“Read this part,” Taako scooted the book forward, pointing to the sea captain’s words. 

The hellfire flicked up to Taako, then back to the book. “‘Are you going to leave me here or take me, Richard?’” Taako had the distinct impression he was being judged. 

“‘Richard’,” he read aloud, “‘was married to the sea, but he was unfaithful husband. Yes, he cried, kissing Captain Rod Steel passionately.’”

“He didn’t answer the good captain’s question,” Kravitz interrupted with a laugh. 

Taako tittered and swatted Kravitz on the top of the skull. “The characters are Salty Richard and Rod Steel, what the fuck are you expectin’, bubala? Hush your bones.” He cleared his throat dramatically and picked up where he left off, “‘Captain Steel kissed him back with equal desire. They were as two storms crashing together on the deck of the _Seaman’s Pleasure_. Captain Steel pushed Richard past the doors of his cabin, shoving him against the door and—.’”

“Weren’t they past the doors?” Kavitz inquired, lifting his head curiously. 

“I think the author means the back of the doors?” Taako replied, scanning up a few sentences and squinting at the page. “Whatever, yadda yadda, there’s a lot of shoving and hip-grabbin’ that’s not important,” he sighed, flipping through the pages. 

“Wait, I want to know about the hip grabbing,” Kravitz protested, putting his bony hand on the pages to stop Taako from turning them. 

“Then stop breakin’ my porn immersion,” Taako growled, glaring over the top of the book. 

“Fine, fine,” Kravitz relented with a snort. 

They went on like that, reading it in parts, Taako even insisting Kravitz do a terrible impression of a moan at the right parts that made Taako crack up. It wasn’t long before Kravitz turned to pliant flesh under Taako’s fingers, nuzzling into his touch. He told himself he went on with the bad erotica to make sure the change would stay. 

The story reached a lull in the narrative. Captain Richard found his heart and gold stolen from his ship. He stared out at the sand crashing against the side of the ship, reflecting on the frailty of life. Kravitz muffled a laugh into his hand and Taako lowered the book with a smirk, “You got an addition, Captain Steel?” 

“I have to say, I’ve never gotten dick _that_ good,” he laughed. 

Taako put a hand on the side of his head, thumbing the tip of his ear. “I think we could change that,” he assured, grabbing a fistful of Kravitz’s hair. “Lose the pants.” 

Kravitz stood slowly and unbuttoned his pants. “A bit confident, aren’t you?” He tilted his head to the side and hooked his thumbs in the belt loops, teasing Taako with the line of lace riding his hips.

“I think you mean cocky,” Taako snickered. He was pleased to see Kravitz was still wearing his panties from earlier. That was a point in the asshole’s column, at least; couldn’t fault him for not being submissive enough. His gaze followed Kravitz’s slacks to the floor. He lifted his eyes to the way the panties barely contained him under the loose hem of his shirt. Today, it was the blue cravat with the ridiculous pattern of skulls bordering its edges. “Untie it.” He waved a hand in the general direction of the necktie. “Untie it and bring it here.”

Kravitz locked eyes with him and used both hands to undo the cotton slowly. He parted his lips and tilted his head just so to make his lashes hard to ignore. A part of Taako wanted to call him on it, another part never wanted him to know so he’d keep trying to seem sweet. Grinning to himself, he flung out an arm and held out a hand for the tie. Kravitz pulled it off with one quick tug and pressed it into Taako’s hand with a flourish, fingers lingering warmly against Taako’s palm. Reflexively, Taako curled his fingers around Kravitz’s.

It was far too intimate for the moment. He jerked his hand back with a nervous titter, unfolding the cloth. “Right,” he covered, licking his lips. “C’mere.”

Frowning, Kravitz looked like he was about to ask a question, but wisely thought better of it. He took the few steps forward and Taako reached up, capturing Kravitz around the neck with the cravat. He squawked and tried to steady himself when Taako pulled him down, knee landing between Taako’s legs.

“Good bird,” Taako smirked, pulling him in by the cravat and kissing him. Kravitz straddled his hips awkwardly, kissing him back eagerly. “Time’s almost up if you want to leave at nine,” he grinned, touching Kravitz through his panties.

Kravitz’s breath hitched and he leaned against Taako’s chest. “Let me ride you,” he mumbled against Taako’s ear, mouthing at it. Taako hummed noncommittally to hold in a groan, pulling Kravitz’s dick out of the thin cloth. “Please,” he begged, thrusting into Taako’s hand. “Before I came here, I tried to—,” he cut himself off and took Taako’s hand, moving it to his ass. Taako slid his fingers under the hem and found Kravitz slick and waiting. 

“Convenient,” Taako grinned, letting Kravitz thrust back on his fingers and pant in his ear. He was easy to work up, which only made Taako’s role all the easier. If Kravitz wanted to do all the work himself, Taako wasn’t going to complain. “What are you waiting for? You’ve only got forty minutes to enjoy yourself before you need to go, pretty bird,” he teased, sliding his slick fingers up Kravitz’s spine. 

Kravitz moved down Taako’s body and unzipped the skirt, pulling it gently down his legs and kissing sloppily at every inch of exposed skin to Taako’s knees. Resting a hand on Taako’s navel, he kissed up the inside of Taako’s thighs and looked up for permission. Taako grinned and dug a heel into Kravitz’s spine. 

“Tick tock.”

He didn’t need anymore prompting; Kravitz kissed and licked at Taako’s dick eagerly, leaning into the hand Taako tangled in his hair with a groan. Taako watched him lazily, tracing what he could see of the bright blue line of his mark of service. It stood out in the room, never letting him forget. He closed his eyes and took a breath, arching into Kravitz’s mouth.

“That’s enough,” Taako sighed, pulling Kravitz up roughly. He put his hands on the arm of the couch above Taako’s head to steady himself, sitting with Taako’s cock rubbing wetly against the silk between his ass cheeks. Taako reached around him and pushed the panties aside so he could sink down on Taako’s cock slowly, both groaning as he went. Adjusting, Kravitz whimpered into his neck and panted hot puffs air. 

He kissed under Taako’s jaw and started moving, pushing himself back up on the arm of the couch. His arms shook as he moved. Taako didn’t do much to help, happy enough to watch him desperately fucking himself. It was good, fast and sloppy and tight. He threw his head back, gasping for breath and gripping Kravitz’s hips. He barely held himself back from keeping up their pace. Arms giving out, Kravitz slowed, hips moving weakly until he seemed to give up and settled on Taako’s chest, breathing hard. “Can’t,” he mumbled, squeezing his eyes shut. 

It crossed Taako’s mind to roll them over and fuck Kravitz into the couch, but he had a feeling it would be more enjoyable if he let Kravitz set the pace here. Slow and deliberate, Kravitz dragged himself midway up Taako’s shaft before sliding back down with a breathy whistling noise. 

“Let’s make this easier, handsome.” Taako gripped Kravitz by his thighs and pulled him off of his dick. Slipping out from under Kravitz, he lay on his side on the bed and gestured for Kravitz to join him. Kravitz stood slowly and tucked himself against Taako’s chest. Taako shifted and thrust inside Kravitz. He stopped with a moan, savoring Kravitz’s echo. Leaning into Taako’s warmth, Kravitz moved his hips sweetly with him. He kissed Kravitz’s temple, touching his thighs and chest. 

Twisting back slightly, Kravitz pulled Taako into a messy kiss. He pressed a little, uncoordinated kiss to the corner of his lips. “Move a little faster,” Taako whispered, pausing to mouth and bite at the tip of Kravitz’s ear when he turned again with his head pillowed on Taako’s arm. Panting, Kravitz nodded and moved his hips probably as quickly as he could manage, slowing down quickly. 

Taako let it be, turning his attention on touching and kissing. He pressed his lips to the back of Kravitz’s shoulder, stroking the long scar on his hip, running his fingers through the soft puff of chest feathers. Really, too soft for a Shadar-kai like Kravitz. He slowed his hands when Kravitz squeezed his eyes shut, looking a little overwhelmed. 

Normally, Taako would rush to his climax. That was why people like Kravitz liked him. He let himself really _look_ at Kravitz and his eyes caught on the beads of sweat following the curves of his body. There was a smallish tattoo of a card on his hip, a jack of spades. He’d noticed it before, but something in seeing it made him intimately aware of how much Kravitz was giving him. _Gods_ , he wanted to see how much more he could pull from Kravitz’s skin, lips, hands.

He grabbed Kravitz’s hand and gripped his hip, slowing them to a drag. 

Kravitz whimpered and arched, but was too tired to do anything but let Taako take over. Bit by bit, they worked their way to their climax, dropping over the edge nearly together. Kravitz was by then a shuddering mess in his arms that seemed surprised by his orgasm. Taako finished himself off inside Kravitz with a moan, working with Kravitz’s pliant body and soft noises. 

He collapsed bonelessly on top of Kravitz, turning his head to kiss him. They kissed and touched until the clock struck nine. Groaning, Kravitz threw an arm over his face. “Don’t wanna get up, huh, pretty bird,” Taako teased, running his hand down Kravitz’s side. “Stay.”

Kravitz murmured something Taako didn’t catch, then nodded slowly. He stayed in Taako’s arms, both snoozing until the clock announced the midnight hour. Taako managed to rouse Kravitz with little nips and well-placed touches. “Come on, pretty bird, good bird, handsome, babe,” he kissed along the shell of Taako’s ear, making them twitch. Kravitz closed his eyes and tried to pretend to be asleep, but the pet names were getting to him. “Bubala, honey, beautiful, sweetie, pretty, pretty bird,” Taako continued with a grin, making Kravitz squirm under him. 

“Okay,” Kravitz relented, turning in Taako’s arms and kissing him. “Okay. I’m awake,” he hissed against Taako’s lips, eyes still closed and smiling. “I’m awake and I hate you for it.” 

They used the hours they had left to find something like comfort until the day chased them back to pretending there was nothing either liked about the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it! See you next chapter.


	4. Excerpts from ‘The Adventures of Salty Richard’

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Excerpts from the bestselling historical romance of pirates, reapers and Kalen by famed historian Dr. Nazar Vicent. Published with permission of the Cardinal Publishing Press to celebrate the five-hundred year anniversary of Lord Macallister “Rod” Richard-Steel of Kravitz Castle’s marriage to Captain “Salty” Richard-Steel. — Sally Periwinkle, Editor of _Fallen Times_ : 42nd of Selah, 1363

_Excerpt from ‘The Adventures of Salty Richard Volume 1: Based on True Stories of Piracy and Romance on the High Sands’ by Dr. Nazar Vicent_

The wind whipped sand wildly across the Astral Sea. Waves of it crashed against the sides of the ship, sending black sand scattering across the outside of the dome of the _Seaman’s Pleasure_. Captain Taako Richard snapped his spyglass close and turned towards the deck of the ship. “A Mantis flies her colors to the west,” he shouted to the men below. “ _Filled_ to the brim with Drownedflower pearls!” A cheer of affirmation went up and crew began to grab swords, scythes, and crossbows. 

Taako waved his hand and spider like legs shot from the side of the vessel. It picked itself up with a lurch and held itself there while the men grunted, turning the great cog that spun the bottom of the ship. The sails unfurled at his gesture and the ship lowered itself back on its gliders, but its legs stayed barely above the Sea of Sand, ready.

Wind caught in the crimson cloth, a black bird spread its wings across the fabric with the number seven painted white on its chest. The first thing he did was snap earmuffs on, muffling the noise of the crew. Taako drew his daggers, sliding one into a hilt on the steering wheel to keep the ship steady. He pulled down his goggles and slid a bandana over his nose. The crew on the deck followed suit and Taako raised his dagger, giving a warning pulse of the dome to any stragglers. Arrows were lit along the bottom, aiming at the massive Mantis laboring and wheezing steam as it struggled to scramble away.

Taako waited until he saw the name of the ship, the _Song of Liars_. An unusual name for a ship until he caught the shape of the back bow, a lyre. A pun. Laughing, Taako shook his head and raised his hand. He brought the dome down with a cut of his hand as they came broadside and speared the side of the _Song of Liars_ with three of his ship’s legs, locking them together. Sails went down above him, seven crimson flags replacing their call. The wind screamed across the deck furiously, ripping at their clothes. Horizontal icicles were already forming on the wheel and Taako ripped his dagger free before it could freeze in place. 

Fiery bolts launched from the deck of the _Seaman’s Pleasure_ and ripped through the dome, slamming into the sides; they only hit harder with the way the wind snatched and threw them. The dome started to flicker and the fear of the Mantis’s passengers howled through his earmuffs. Taako charged forward, darting over a gangplank and jumping into the dome during one of the flickers. He jerked his earmuffs down around his neck, fully opening himself up to the chaos of the _Song of Liars_.

A woman charged at him, some brave, dumb hawk feather. Taako cut her down with a flick of his wrist, shoving her into the arms of someone who screamed furiously enough to be her father. “At least I didn’t kill her, homie, shut the _fuck_ up,” he snarled at the man, scanning the crowd. 

The captain made himself obvious. An achingly beautiful man whose long coat whipped in the flickering wind. He met Taako’s eye from behind the wheel and bore his teeth in a snarl. Taako smirked behind his bandana and dodged around the crowd. The captain of the passenger ship slammed his cane on the deck and it grew to a scythe. 

They met on the stairs to the upper level, the other captain’s scythe slamming down on Taako’s daggers. He staggered, barely holding them up. Hoo boy, but this captain was strong. Far stronger than Taako and he knew how to use it, too. Sparks flew as his daggers cut into the scythe. Taako left his right dagger embedded and ducked, punching the captain in the gut. He wheezed and Taako ripped his dagger free as he sidestepped. The captain flung his scythe onto the next step to steady himself, using his momentum to kick Taako’s feet from under him.

Taako made a noise of surprise as he hit the stairs, chin smacking into the top step and wind whooshing out of him. The captain snapped his scythe to his side – a cane once again – and dragged Taako roughly up the stairs where he jumped on him, pinning his arms behind his back.

“Oh, sexy,” Taako coughed, spitting blood on the ground. 

“Shut up. Idiot. Did you really think you could pull off a heist like this?” The captain growled close to his ear, starting to tie his wrists together with rope. “Two hundred Shadar-kai on my ship,” he went on, jerking the ropes together forcefully, making Taako hiss in pain. 

“Yeah, kinda did,” he grinned, resting his cheek on the deck and fluttering his eyelashes. “Tell me, handsome, are you more used to tying people up or being tied up? ‘Cause I’m thinkin’ the latter.” 

The good captain’s shoulders went up defensively and he stuttered out a breath. “That’s—. You’re going to jail for a very long time,” he warned. “Eternal Stockade, I bet. I bet they – ah – leave you there to rot.”

“Oh boy, what a warning,” he mocked, squirming under the man. The captain tried to get him to stop by squeezing his knees against Taako’s hips. “Mm, I should probably be _so_ worried, but how can I when my captor is such a handsome fella? If you take me there yourself, I’ll go willingly, bubala.”

The captain put his hands on Taako’s forearms and gripped him hard. “If you don’t shut up, I’m going to gag you,” he hissed and shimmied down Taako’s legs, turning around to tie his ankles. At least he was smart enough to not give Taako an ounce of leverage. 

Taako half-lifted himself and twisted. “I’m not opposed to it with an ass like that, babe,” he smirked. The man froze and fumbled with the ropes, clicking his tongue in frustration. 

“What in Her Good Lady’s name is _wrong_ with you? You’re being arrested as your crew is captured,” Kravitz exclaimed, stopping just short of tying off the restraints as he ranted. “Tied up! Going to jail! Aren’t you bothered at all, man?” 

“It’s not that I don’t _like_ it,” Taako smiled, flexing his fingers. “But I wanna give you a good time, too, charmer. Say, you got a name? Seems polite to know somebody’s name before I—.”

“It’s Captain Macallister Steel,” the captain interrupted, clearly flustered. “And you’re not going to do anything but wait here for Reapers to come.”

Taako rolled his eyes and wiggled his fingers. Tentacles rose from the deck of the ship, grabbing Kravitz’s wrists. He shouted in surprise. “One, don’t fuckin’ _ever_ interrupt me. Two, I was sayin’ that it’s _polite_ to know someone’s name ‘fore you tentacle their dick, _Steel_ ,” he growled. The tentacles ripped Kravitz off of him, slamming him into the ship’s railing. A few untied Taako and he rolled, jumping to his feet and rubbing his wrists as he approached Kravitz. 

Lup and Barry sounded the whistle from the crowe’s nest of the _Seaman’s Pleasure_. Magnus echoed it on the deck of the passenger ship. Julia shouted something from the netting. Lucretia sounded off somewhere nearby. 

Taako turned his head and grinned. “Three, we’re done here. Have fun explaining this to the Reapers, _Ex-Captain_ ,” he snickered and saluted as he ran down the steps. 

There was incomprehensible scream of rage behind him, but Taako didn’t pause to look back at the captain. He sprinted across the gangplank, Magnus hefting two crates of pearls next to him while Lucretia kept six suspended in the air with magic in front of him. At least they were the last off the ship. 

Or _near_ last. He heard someone running across the plank after him. Gangplanks were drawn back on the ship and Taako tore the legs of his Spider free, reopening the sails so they could zip away before anyone had the sense to follow. The dome closed over again, sealing them off from the cold and harsh wind. 

When Taako lifted his hand to change the direction of the sails, someone tackled him to the ground. He groaned in pain as his already bruised jaw smacked the deck _again_. If it was Lup, he was going to _kill_ her and—.

Someone snatched one of his daggers from its sheath and pressed it to the back of his neck. “Nobody move or I’ll kill him,” Kravitz snarled with...

* * *

_Excerpt from ‘The Adventures of Salty Richard Volume 1: Based on True Stories of Piracy and Romance on the High Sands’ by Dr. Nazar Vicent_

... eyed them both, waving his fork between the two. “So are you related?” 

Taako laughed, sipping his drink. “She says she’s my older sister,” he grinned. 

“I’m his older sister,” she supplied, leaning an elbow on the table. “Approximately.”

Kravitz had a feeling there was a joke here he wasn’t quite getting. “Approximately?” He looked at her mark of service and Barry’s, too. Both of them were tattoos without the same brilliance that the real ones had. It didn’t extend to their tongues, either. 

“Mhm,” she hummed with a vague wave of her hands.

“Don’t worry, she says the same thing when I ask, too,” Taako laughed into his wine and shook a finger. “I didn’t have any siblings growing up, if you’re wondering.” 

Kravitz frowned, looking again at Lup. Someone lit a candle to brighten the room and all around them, each Shadar-kai’s sclera darkened to black, pupils disappearing into vague pools of color. Lup and Barry’s eyes remained the same. 

Like the eyes of mortals. 

He cleared his throat and looked away. Something told him that he shouldn’t keep prodding. He picked up his wine and gulped the rest...

* * *

_Excerpt from ‘The Adventures of Salty Richard Volume 2: Based on True Stories of Piracy and Romance on the High Sands’ by Dr. Nazar Vicent_

... and Kravitz glared out the brig door, fists in his lap. “That’s it?”

Taako tossed Kravitz a small pouch of coins and opened his arms wide. “That’s it, homie,” he replied with a little grin. “Ten gold to get you anywhere between here and Shadowfell. Blackcog is a trade city. I’m sure you won’t have a problem getting back to Drownedflower, babe.” He grinned and put a finger to his bottom lip. 

“I feel a ‘but’ in your explanation,” Kravitz growled and crossed his arms. 

“You’re smarter than you act,” he grinned, leaning against the cell door. “What’s left for you in Drownedflower but trouble? You could stay here and join the crew, get rich, have the adventures in your little books.”

Kravitz glanced down at the half-torn paperbacks. He looked up at Taako and pursed his lips. Of course, he wasn’t going to become some scoundrel of the sea. Still, Taako had barely stopped making eyes at him since he stepped on the ship. He could use it to his advantage. 

Take what was rightfully Drownedflower’s. 

He stood and walked over to Taako. “You’re right, _captain_ ,” he smiled and held out his hand. Taako’s eyes lit up and he...

* * *

_Excerpt from ‘The Adventures of Salty Richard Volume 6: Based on True Stories of Piracy and Romance on the High Sands’ by Dr. Nazar Vicent_

... gold clinked as Taako let it fall back into the chest, piece by piece. Kravitz swallowed audibly by the firepit, barely heard over the crackling of the hearth. Taako stood and went to the gramophone, repositioning the needle to the center. It spun, [something ridiculous](https://youtu.be/0oGrwGCRImY) trailing from the horn. The type of song he always expected Taako to have on hand. He moved forward, raking in a pile of gold and carrying it to Kravitz’s side. He let it spill across their sleeping roll and sat cross-legged. Taking a ruby ring, Kravitz spun it between his fingers. “Is this my dowry?” 

“Your share,” Taako grinned, snatching the ring and sliding it on one of Kravitz’s fingers. He picked up another ring and put that on Kravitz, too. Kravitz propped himself up on the pillows, side burning as he moved. He winced and clutched it with a hiss of pain. Taako’s hand covered his in concern. 

“I’m fine,” he assured him with a smile and held his hands back out. “Give me my share.” 

Smirking, Taako took his hands and covered all of his fingers with rings. He draped Kravitz’s neck in tangled gold and bejeweled necklaces. What necklaces were too tangled to salvage, he tucked away in Kravitz’s hair with gaudy pins. Kravitz got his fill of dressing Taako, too. He’d reath up to clasp plated gold to Taako’s neck, slipping on bracelets when he reached for Kravitz’s hands.

They laughed and kissed, Taako somehow finding his way between and on top of Kravitz’s legs. The shanty shook in every buffet of wind, its magic barely holding back the chill. Their candles and fire burned low as their pile grew to only coins. 

Taako made a pattern on Kravitz’s stomach with the leftover coins, head on Kravitz’s hip. “We can sell all this in a few years,” he murmured. Kravitz threaded his fingers through Taako’s hair, some pearls clinking to the floor and rolling across the boards. “I could buy a whole block in Shadowfell. Open a bakery.”

Kravitz laughed aloud, thumbing Taako’s cheek. “Is that the end goal for you, Captain? A baker?” 

Taako snickered and flicked a little tower of coins, watching them scatter across Kravitz’s chest. “What will you do with yours, Captain?” 

“Buy home, maybe have an extravagant wedding, buy a sunlamp and a lounge and watch all the other busy birds stroll past me window,” he smiled, petting Taako’s ear. 

Taako kissed his navel and then turned his head to kiss Kravitz’s palm. “Ooh, a _wedding_ , handsome? Any candidates to play your opposite?” 

Kravitz twirled a lock of Taako’s hair around his index finger, parting Taako’s lips with his thumb. “I was thinking a mirror,” he grinned, eyes lighting up at Taako’s laugh. 

He scooted up to Kravitz, straddling his hips. “You’re a scoundrel, Captain Steel,” he sang, jabbing Kravitz in the center of his gold-draped chest. Pressing down on his feathers, Taako leaned in to kiss Kravitz. 

Kravitz rolled them, kissing Taako into their bedroll as coins scattered throughout the room, onto Taako’s stomach. Even with the burn in his side, he caressed Taako’s cheek and stole his lips, other hand sliding between their bodies. 

For a moment, Reader, I as the author (Dr. Nazar Vicent of the University of Our Lady’s Prosperous Twilight), must speak to you. There are books – of course like this one – on the subject of the Captains. They will focus on the way Captain “Salty” Richard-Steel – then Captain Richard – was part of a dark, criminal past for Lord-Captain Rod Richard-Steel. The focus is always on the unusual past for a Grim Reaper and not upon what that past meant for a man who transformed the face of Shadowfell itself. 

The late Lord-Captain Macallister “Rod” Richard-Steel refused to change his name to its maiden form. He stood in full regalia for his portrait with an open locket of his husband held over his heart. The story of the Lord-Captain is incomplete if you tell Captain Richard’s story as only a pitiful past for a man we hoist statues of and name places in memoriam. 

Critics will call this clunky to place an afterword in the breath between gasping bodies, but I am a historian before a smut peddler. This moment in this shanty that could have blown down at any moment was important. It changed the course of both the Captains lives and sent them towards the Cave of Kalen and The Reaper’s Revolt of 768...

... return to the Captains before their time together could be considered pitiful. In their shanty with their stolen gold and stolen moments. 

Kravitz pressed a peck to the corner of Taako’s mouth. His hand circled Taako’s navel, scattering more gold to the floor. Taako put his hands on either of Kravitz’s cheeks, pushing him up with fervent little kisses and bites. 

Like he’d always done, Kravitz gave himself to Taako in his entirety. Gave himself to the tongue parting his lips, behind his teeth, to the ice and fire curling his toes. He gasped and tilted his head, fingers splayed between their hips. 

He felt the gold minting the the faces of long-dead Shadar-kai across their skin and the scratch of Taako’s talons under his jaw. His nerves sang under the burden of gold and Taako’s lips pulling him apart. There was no part of him – cog or knuckle or heart – that didn’t want to be turned in Taako’s clever fingers.

Kravitz gasped for breath against his lips and Taako’s arm slipped around his neck, the other between his shoulder blades. They both panted, the sides of their noses pressed together. Finally, his fingers danced between Taako’s hips and took him in hand. Taako groaned, breath hot on Kravitz’s mouth. Their necklaces were hopelessly tangled and Taako spread his legs, hooking them behind Kravitz’s thighs. 

“I love you,” Kravitz whispered against Taako’s cheek, face burning. 

“That good already, babe?” Taako teased, rubbing a hand up Kravitz’s spine. His breath hitched and he swore softly. 

“The only candidate I have to marry is you,” Kravitz swore in turn, lifting himself up on his elbow and looking down at Taako seriously. 

“My man, _please_ do not even propose to me in the middle of fuckin’,” he groaned in reply, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“I’m serious,” Kravitz insisted, hand stilling. 

Taako stared at the ceiling as if seeking strength. “Hoo boy, do I know it, handsome. Just—. Can we talk about this when I’m a little less erect?” Kravitz snorted, but continued stroking him. Gently, Taako nudged him up so he was sitting, their necklaces clinging to one another between them. His fingers slipped between Kravitz’s legs, thumbing his clit as he pressed two of his clever, clever fingers into him.

Kravitz threw his head back moaning as Taako worked his magic. He felt at once like he was burning and like he wanted more of Taako to warm him. A part of him was always insatiable, seeking whatever morsels Taako threw him of an illusion that they could have a life together. 

He bent forward, shuddering with a moan as his knees squeezed Taako’s sides and his body around Taako’s fingers. His breath stuttered and he reached under himself to fondle Taako’s balls which made Taako curl his fingers in all the right places. 

He slapped a hand over his mouth to try to quiet his shout of pleasure. Taako arched under him and tugged at his arm to free his moans. "No," he hissed, twining their fingers together. "I'll hear you."

Kravitz whispered an obscene prayer into the hot air between their bodies. The man beneath him, inside him, all around him was too much and everything. He bowed his head and let pearls and gold and gems fall across Taako's feathers as he rolled his hips down onto his fingers. They moved like that in the twilight between the creaking board of their shanty and the low-flickering candlelight. He felt the edge of their time in that room and guided Taako's hands to his hip, pressing his talons in like he wanted Taako to break his skin. Taako held him in place and fucked Kravitz relentlessly with his fingers, wringing peepish cries from his lips. 

Kravitz gripped Taako harder than he’d meant as he tightened, coming with a quiet gasp of Taako’s name. Taako swore again before coming across Kravitz’s stomach and thighs. He gripped Kravitz’s hip hard enough to well blood under the skin.

Flopping onto his chest in a sweaty heap, Kravitz took deep breaths against his feathers. “Menace,” he hissed when Taako wiggled his fingers playfully inside of...

* * *

_Excerpt from ‘The Adventures of Salty Richard Volume 9: Based on True Stories of Piracy and Romance on the High Sands’ by Dr. Nazar Vicent_

... he put his thumb on Kravitz’s bottom lip as if to hide the mark of service. “Please,” Taako whispered, fingers shaking in Kravitz’s. 

“Taako, I can’t. We both know I can’t,” Kravitz murmured and pulled him into his lap. He rubbed his shoulders as Taako sobbed, hands fisting in Kravitz’s loose shirt. “I can’t,” he said again, voice cracking. 

“You’re my _husband_ ,” Taako hissed, grabbing Kravitz shirt and leaning back. “They can’t—. I won’t let them take you.”

Kravitz laughed, sounding heartbroken. He found his feather tied to Taako’s wrist, the beads from Lup and Barry, Magnus and Julia, his parents, their loved ones. “Are you going to fight The Raven Queen, Taako? Don’t be ridiculous. I have no choice but to serve.” He lowered his eyes. “By law, we’re not married anymore. Never were,” he whispered.

Taako snatched his wrist away, clutching it to his chest like Kravitz would take it from him right there. “You will always be my husband. No castle or god or calling can change that,” he hissed, holding his head high. “I have never asked this world for _anything_ but your hand, Macallister Steel.” Standing suddenly, he started to pace. “They will _not_ take you from me.”

This was madness. Taako was going to get himself killed if he really thought he could keep him away from the castle. Swallowing thickly, Kravitz closed his eyes and put his hand over Taako’s feather around his wrist. All the years he’d worn it and it’d never once broke. Held in place by only a simple leather tie, pretty beads, a soft downy feather. It was still tied the way Taako had tied it on the beach between the vows he’d echoed from Merle. He’d had to retie Taako’s countless time when he wasn’t careful enough, but Kravitz had held his preciously all their years together. 

Taako’s hands suddenly covered his, clutching at his hand. “Please no,” he sobbed, talons digging into Kravitz’s wrist. “Please, _gods_ , no. I can’t—.” His lower lip and arms trembled, tears barely held in place at the corners of his eyes. 

“I won’t let you die over this, Taako,” Kravitz murmured, squeezing his eyes shut. “I won’t let you—.”

“Kalen,” Taako interrupted, grabbing Kravitz’s face. “We know where he is. A hundred thousand gold and a _wish_ from Our Lady, Kravitz,” he grinned, kissing him suddenly. “A wish! You!”

Taking a breath, Kravitz took a moment to catch up to Taako. His mind edged to that cave, the hatred and darkness that had leaked from every pore. He shivered involuntarily and turned his head away. Kalen had seemed weak; not the boogeyman of their stories who crushed children but a frail old man who cursed Death and Shadar-kai. That still paid them with dusty gold for things he crowed were an investment. 

One wish.

Slowly, Kravitz nodded, taking Taako’s hand. “It’s a long shot, but we’ve been through far worse than him.” Taako surged forward, smiling and kissing him, hands sliding down his body, fingers skating across his skin...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might want to read the chapter summary on this one. 
> 
> Next chapter will return to our dear reapers. ;p


	5. A Little Side Quest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kravitz does have a day job.

It was stupid. Kravitz made it a point to be self-aware and he knew that this was incredibly _stupid_. He eyed the earrings inside his bounty’s bag and looked around the cave. It wasn’t likely anyone would notice something was missing from a corpse’s bag or come this far out.

Actually, it was somewhat amazing the _bounty_ had made it this far. Kravitz marveled at how little life someone would accept if it meant living forever. Slowly, he leaned his scythe against a makeshift dresser. He toed the corpse and snatched the sapphire and silver earrings before scattering the rest of the contents across the ground. They jangled against the corners of his jaw when he put them on. 

He pulled his hair back in the mirror and admired himself. Maybe he’d even leave them on long enough for Taako to take them off. Grinning, he folded his scythe into a quill and tucked it into his hair. With the weather in the Astral Plane how it was, he’d be back in Shadowfell before the night he’d left was over. Afterall, he had an appointment to keep the next afternoon. He shoved down the pleasant flutter of anticipation and covered his stupidly grinning reflection with a hand.

It would take three days in the material plane. 

No use getting worked up when he needed to worry about getting to the nearest gate and hopping through. He picked up his scythe and looked towards the tunnels leading out. With a bit of stooping, he managed to get through the entrance to his gjenaugr. It huffed and whinnied, shaking black sand from its mane as it stomped. Kravitz put a hand on its neck while he checked the pack in hopes of calming it, but it was rarely happy if it wasn’t moving. For this reason, he felt a bit of a kinship with gjenaugrs. He could see by the wisps of black smoke and frosting of ice on the mountainside that it’d at least enjoyed grazing while he was inside. 

Everything looked to be in order, so Kravitz swung into the saddle and strapped himself in. The gjenaugr bolted without being told the second he pulled down his goggles, claws leaving ice and gouges in the rock as it leapt from stone to stone. As soon as they reached the forest, it leapt into the trees and flung itself from trunk to trunk until it burst from the leaves. It launched itself into the air and unfurled its wings, gliding along the tree tops by pushing itself along lazily by tapping its claws on the highest branches. 

Kravitz pushed his goggles into his hair and tugged a small table across his lap. He tapped on it impatiently until the old protective dome shimmered to life over the makeshift desk with a hiss. They’d sail across the forest as long as they could and then he’d have to wrangle his gjenaugr the short jaunt across to the Phandalin. It was a largely boring journey Kravitz spent most of the time going through the books he’d fallen behind on. 

Particularly, Nazar wanted him to review his newest drafts about The Seventh Bird. Most of it was still jumbled notes from tracing her path and trying to track her down. Considering Kravitz was the only person to have laid eyes on her in the past millennia, he was surprised Nazar had managed to find any trace of her at all. Still, Nazar’s draft slash reports were concerning.

He said he’d found her buried with The Fifth Bird and an empty Flask of the Sixth.

Nazar wasn’t yet clear if they were hibernating or actually dead. Considering they were liches, Kravitz was far more concerned about the Flask of the Sixth. He couldn’t imagine her and the Fifth letting it get buried if they’d lost hold on their bodies. Besides that when he’d seen her, the Flask of the Sixth had been full. 

Which meant The Sixth Bird had been reborn sometime in the last few centuries and she’d failed to notify them. He pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d have to pour over every laying record from the day he’d fought her to when the report had been sent. The Sixth Bird had a rather high propensity to get himself killed in each life so he couldn’t have hatched more than two hundred years ago. 

Groaning, he composed a quick letter telling Nazar to protect the Flask of the Sixth and bring it back to the castle as soon as possible. He folded it into around a copper coin and tossed it to the side. A raven snatched it from the air and disappeared into a portal it opened with a caw. 

A day passed with him lost in similar reports from field agents on the material plane. The home office here had handed it to him without much fanfare as he took off. Most of it wasn’t interesting; a typical show of offerings to Her Lady at winter solstice from most regions varying by the number of followers; it was never much. The more amusing ones were clearly somewhat of a more personal note from one of the outlying captains to the local major. Little touches of affection in the letter peppered with endearments. 

Technically these flirtations weren’t allowed, but Kravitz had changed policy when he’d taken his title after considering the state of The Conspiracy. Frankly, he preferred his reapers holding hands to stabbing each other in the backs. Surely, he thought with a little smile, Major Julia wouldn’t have shared these reports if she’d thought this Captain Magnus was out of line. 

Besides, she deserved to be happy.

His stomach growled and he frowned. While he didn’t need to eat, it was nice not to have hunger gnawing at his stomach. The sun felt like it’d only set which meant it wasn’t too late for mortals to serve food. He looked around and spotted the lights of a town nestled against the forest. Putting away his reports and desk, Kravitz grabbed the gjenaugr’s reins. It resisted steering away from the course it’d set towards Phandalin, tossing its head so sand plinked against Kravitz’s goggles. Finally, it yielded and turned, diving through the trees towards the town with a scream of frustration. 

Once again, Kravitz felt a kinship with his gjenaugr. 

They thudded into a pasture, leaving four small craters in place of its paws. It folded its wings in a way that nearly whapped Kravitz in the face. He snorted and spurred its sides, urging it to hop over the fence towards the road. It huffed and stretched, laying down with its head in its paws instead. 

Sighing, he pulled out a bag of carrots and grabbed one. They’d gone a bit mushy, but judging by the way its ears flicked back that wasn’t much of a problem. He put the bag away and threw the carrot as far towards the road as he could. 

The gjenaugr pounced and caught it just before it hit the road. Kravitz used its momentum to spur it forward and they arced towards the town like lightning. He reined it in by the town gates and it skidded to a stop, wings flared. The guards standing by the entrance eyed them with alarm while his gjenaugr laid down once again, no longer interested in moving.

At least he’d gotten it this far. 

He unstrapped himself and hopped down, grabbing a small pack of things from his saddle bags. “Hello,” he greeted as he approached. The guards stared up at him in a mixture of awe and horror. He coughed and switched to Common, accent thick, “ _Hello?_ ”

“ _H-hi_ ,” one of the guards gurgled back, eyes darting down to his sides. Definitely looking for weapons. 

Always a good sign.

“ _What’s your business here?_ ” The other guard started in gruffly, nearly having to tilt her head all the way back to meet Kravitz’s eyes. 

“ _I was hoping to eat and get a couple days of rations. I’m not here to collect_ ,” he smiled reassuringly with a wave of his hand. They flinched away and put their fingers around the hilts their swords as if he had drawn his. His smile died at the touch of fear in their eyes. “ _I can confine my activity to the graveyard if it would make you more comfortable._ ” 

“ _That may be for the best. It would frighten the townsfolk to see one of the Queen’s people here of all places_ ,” the guard said with a shrugged and held out a hand towards the town. “ _I’ll escort you to the temple, Reaper._ ”

The first guard made a noise of protest, eyeing Kravitz’s gjenaugr. “ _Are you leaving that thing out here?_ ” 

Kravitz twisted around, arms crossed. His gjenaugr was chewing on grass and breathing ice around the town sign. “ _You can try to move it if you want. Likes carrots and scratches behind the ear. That’s as far as it was willing to go for me, but maybe you’ll have better luck_ ,” he told the guard and suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. They didn’t see Reapers or their gjenaugrs often, he reminded himself. She was still staring at it apprehensively. “ _They’re herbivores_ ,” he offered with a laugh. 

“ _Never seen a cow with claws that big_ ,” she muttered and rested her hand on the hilt of her sword. 

Kravitz snorted and followed after his escort who was content with the silence. People on the mostly empty streets thought it better to retreat back to where they’d come and he heard a shutter or two closing with their grates drawn down after. It made the whole street eerie in anticipation for whatever it was the townsfolk expected. Luckily, it wasn’t a big town and he didn’t have to dwell on his disruptive presence for too long. 

The guard left him at the crypt with nary a word. He sighed and slipped downstairs. There was no one at the small temple. Some pushing and prodding at the walls revealed a pantry with dried rations and a couple of copper mugs. He drew water from the well by the altar and found it putrid. With a frown, he let the bucket fall back down; it made a hollow plod when it hit the bottom. 

Kravitz sat on the cold, stone floor and mechanically bit off pieces of the jerky. 

He finished as quickly as he could and left, shoulders hunched on his way back through the town. A baby’s wail cut through the silence hanging over the town and a mother – hidden in the bushes he hurried past – muffled it with a hand over its mouth. The first guard shouted some goodbye to him as he fled onto his gjenaugr and steered it back towards the forest. 

It was more than happy to go. 

A day and a half later, Kravitz touched down outside New Phandalin with some urging. This close to the gate, he was able to hop down and walk it towards the squat fortress that sat over the portal. The streets were lively, as they always were here. Shadar-kai hawked their wares to anyone who passed by alongside the living. They stood out in the crowds, of course. Only one or two in three dozen people, towering at twice the height of most mortals. Newcomers glanced at them warily, but otherwise the Queen’s people were treated as any other. 

He unsaddled his gjenaugr at the stables. Other Reapers gave him a brief bow and ‘ _Lord Kravitz_ ’ as they passed. Kravitz mostly ignored this, concentrating on condensing his saddle bags into one pack he slipped on his back when he finished. He grabbed an empty glass bottle from the stable shelf and held it towards his gjenaugr. It whinnied, snorted and then disappeared into the bottle. He corked it and set it next to the other restless vials of black sand. 

The town clock chimed noon as he put most of his supplies into a locker inside the fort. A woman sat by the swirling portal with a cane dipped into the purple glow. “How much longer?” He asked, eyeing the doors back to the town. 

She tilted the cane and peeked down at the clock carved on the other end. “Three hours at least until the storm settles, Lord Kravitz,” she nodded. “Time is starting to quicken. The meteorologist said there’d be an hour window for travel this morning.” 

Kravitz nodded more to himself. “Thank you,” he murmured and headed out into the town again. He had enough gold leftover to do the little task he had in mind. 

A bath was in order first. At least mortals had realized that the Shadar-kai compulsion for grooming could be profitable. Only Shadar-kai seemed to gather at the bath house he found – ‘ _The Bird Bath_ ’. A quaint little place with elvish owners who seemed to think they spoke Astral, but didn’t quite have the basics of it down.

Luckily, no one there recognized him and he was able to find a man who offered to groom his hair for him as gently as he could. Some of his loneliness from six days of travel was lost in this stranger’s touch, but hurt enough to sting his eyes on every yank at a knot. It left Kravitz’s scalp feeling numb by the time he braided Kravitz’s hair and coiled it into a bun. He left after grooming his feathers and freeing himself from road grime. An array of soaps and oils he paid to use helped him emerge smelling like cedar instead of sweat. 

Anticipation thrummed as he drew his hood and walked down an alley towards a tailor shop. The tailor took nearly two hours, but he couldn’t help but glance at himself in the reflection of mirrors. A corset, new pants with austere buttons, pressed white shirt with all the frills around his neck and wrists. Leather heeled boots from the cobbler nearby that nearly went to his knees. He browsed the street wares for something to match the sapphire earrings and found it in a silver ribbon like the one Taako had put round his neck that first night. 

Feeling bold with his hood low, he bought a pair of cuffs that could be unhooked from one another. In an alley, he slipped them on under the new frilly sleeves like bracelets and tried to remind himself there was still a whole day before he was alone with Taako. He swallowed and thumped the back of his head on the wall, toying with the cuffs. The earrings brushed his jaw, reminding him how pretty he’d made himself for Taako. Maybe Taako would compliment him as he came in and Kravitz could use that to steady himself through the rest of the day. He took a deep breath and pushed away from the wall with a smile. 

Kravitz made a last stop at a tavern for a proper meal. He sat by the fire, trying not to eavesdrop on the laughter around him. It was a far cry from the cold temple floor of the other town. _Yet_ , Kravitz thought dreamily as he watched the flickering flames in the hearth. The other town had been honest in its rejection of him; finding comfort or peace did no more than disrupt their lives and they had treated him as he deserved to be. He drank a quarter of his mead and leaned both elbows on the table. 

_Go, work, I’m fine, I don’t need to eat, I don’t need to sleep, I can—._ These were the kinds of thought that’d started the tremor. 

His hands had been steady for five-hundred years and then he hadn’t been able to so much as write. After a forced leave with murmurs that he was being fired, he’d come back instead to find Taako hired. Kravitz was expected to – ordered to – ease enough of his burdens to steady the hand She was meant to work through. Trying to train Taako had taken the shake from his hand. He’d had to pace himself, let Taako keep up with his plans. Which also meant laying out his plans for someone else to comment on, criticize. 

He smirked into his mug. Taako displayed no knowledge of the path he’d carved through the Conspiracy. Not that it really mattered. Most of his accomplishments as Grim Reaper had been settled centuries ago. He glanced around the tavern and briefly watched a Shadar-kai crooning at an orc. _Still_ being settled, but certainly done. He set his empty mug down and rose from his seat. 

It was time to go back home.

He wove his way past merchants lining up to cross and slipped into the fort, putting on his pack. The woman who had been watching the time before was busy with other soldiers examining carts before they passed through with nervous phoenixes or gryphons. 

Kravitz dropped in face first, catching his footing as he slammed into the astral plane. He’d gone through enough times to use the momentum to hurry past the throngs of people emerging or floating to the ceiling to leave themselves. Instead of walking, he hopped onto the back of a trolley heading into Shadowfell. It was nine-thirty which meant Taako should have been in. He jumped off in front of the castle steps and practically skipped the rest of the way across the marbled floors to his office.

Unfortunately, this meant he nearly barreled into Taako on his way out of the office. 

“Watch your step, boss,” Taako hissed and crossed his arms.

“Sorry,” Kravitz started with a grin he couldn’t quite keep off his face. He shrugged off his pack and cloak, hoping Taako would notice what he was wearing. “I was running a little—.”

“Late?” Taako rolled his eyes and returned to his desk with an annoyed huff. “I was sorta hopin’ you wouldn’t show up so I could leave.” He covered a yawn pointedly. 

A little air went out of Kravitz’s excitement. 

“I wouldn’t miss our appointment,” he said with a smaller smile. 

Taako snorted and pulled out an agenda. “Is that what you call it, babe? Listen, I was going to talk to you about that.” Kravitz felt his smile dim and he set his pack down. “I’m one, amazed you trust me with your schedule at all and two, said yes to another _appointment_ before I made plans with you. Forgot about it. Dude reminded me yesterday.” Kravitz’s smile completely slipped off his face. 

“I see,” he said automatically. 

“What?” Taako glanced up and paused, frowning. He opened his mouth and then closed it as Kravitz dragged his pack to his office. “Wait—,” he growled and grabbed Kravitz’s sleeve as his eyes scanned the agenda. “Don’t get all puppy-dog eyed, handsome.”

“I’m not ‘ _puppy-dog eyed_ ’,” Kravitz snapped, turning and baring his teeth at Taako. It didn’t matter if Taako didn’t take his time seriously. He should have expected it. Should have known better. 

“You don’t got nothin’ this afternoon,” Taako crowed and slapped a hand on the desk. “In case you were gone all day.” He turned to Kravitz and put his chin in the palm of his hand with a flutter of eyelashes. “Your place or mine, bubala?” 

Kravitz let out a breath and tossed his pack in his office. He _had_ planned on being gone all day. Taking off the afternoon wouldn’t be terrible. “Yours,” he murmured.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if you read this once. Reposted since I hated the first.


	6. Roaring, Rolling Down We Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This has some spanking, corsets, and gets heavy into the dom/sub.

Taako smiled approvingly and it settled with a warm flutter in Kravitz’s stomach. His hand dropped to Kravitz’s wrist and turned it over. “What’s this?” He touched the cuff. Kravitz averted his eyes, heat rising to his cheeks. “Mm. Fuck it. Why wait?” He flashed a smile up at Kravitz and drew him in, hands going to his waist over the corset. “We can close up the locker room and I can fuck you in this new corset, pretty bird.” 

Kravitz swallowed and nodded. He put one knee on the chair to keep himself from falling over as Taako pulled him into a kiss. A moment later, he put his other knee on the chair and sat in his lap with a needy whine against Taako’s tongue. Taako pushed Kravitz’s face back, thumbs resting on his cheeks. “We’re gonna get caught like,” he grinned. “ _I_ don’t mind, but—.”

Kravitz jerked away like Taako had turned to scalding water.

“Sorry, I forgot myself for a moment,” he whispered and turned his head. “No.” He ran a hand down his face to force himself to have some composure. “It’s safer to go elsewhere. Your place, right?”

Sighing, Taako leaned an elbow on his desk. “Don’t wanna mix business and pleasure, I got you, my guy.” He took Kravitz’s hand and turned it, running his thumb over the cuff and down his palm slowly. “Still shouldn’t dress up like this unless you want me to pin you to a fuckin’ wall,” he smirked and pressed the clasp of Kravitz’s cuff to his lips, looking up at Kravitz from under his lashes. 

Heat coiled in Kravitz’s stomach to his ears that flicked at the burn. “I still very much want that,” he murmured, dropping his eyes to Taako’s mouth. _Merciful Death_ , but he did want Taako to snap the cuffs together and order him to ride his cock while he looked at him just like that. 

He wouldn’t, of course. He _couldn’t_. Not in the fainting maiden still craning their hand towards forbidden fruit way, but that Kravitz didn’t want to test the bounds of his Goddess’ knowledge nor patience. _Still_ , he could fantasize about it. 

Taako’s smirk sharpened and he stood up, hands resting on Kravitz’s shoulders. “Let me go first and clean up. Follow after a half an hour on the dot. And bring those vibrating beads with you. Leave here a second too late or too early and I won’t be able to let you stay so pretty for long,” he snickered against Kravitz’s ear, hand dropping to Kravitz’s hip, tracing the pattern of fabric drawing his waist tight. “Take your new pants and shirt off so they don’t get ruined. Leave the corset though, remind you what you’re missing.” His touch disappeared the moment Kravitz tried to lean into it. He caught himself on the desk as Taako slipped out the door with a little wave and grin.

Kravitz put a hand against his chest and tried to take as deep a breath as the corset allowed.

He looked up at the clock. Half an hour on the dot was ten o’ four. Grinning like an idiot, Kravitz went to his desk and started to unpack his missives while excitement bubbled in his stomach. He made himself focus on addressing all his reports and sending them off. It didn’t work very well and his mind wandered to trying to imagine what Taako’s apartment was like. 

If he remembered right, Taako lived with his sister who was also a Reaper. An unfortunate circumstance. Looking at the door then at his filing cabinets guiltily, Kravitz popped open the A’s and quickly found Taako’s. 

Most of the files here were thin. There was an archive of more detailed reports in the basement above the Stockade, but this was for Kravitz’s reference when assignments came due. 

Taako’s file was only a single page. 

He’d never had an incident report filed or bounty complete. There was no record of memories recovered or larger purpose speculated by The Conspiracy’s psychologists. It had a photo of Taako, some notes on his particular fighting quirks – ‘ _magically powerful but stubborn, would be better serving a village than fulfilling bounties_ ’ in Major Waxmen’s scrawl – and finally what Kravitz was curious about. Taako had two family members, an aunt and a sister. While his aunt had received compensation, she hadn’t filed a grievance against The Raven Queen for taking both the children she had raised. 

His aunt _had_ asked for an unusual compensation for the loss of her niece and nephew. 

She had petitioned – politely in a note Lup had given to her recruiting officer from her aunt – for Taako to be dishonorably removed from service, ‘ _I know Our Lady would never fail in a deal She made, but my nephew is no Reaper. Please return him to his home as Branded. The village knows him, he’ll find no shame to face here. He won’t do what he wants, but he won’t suffer or fade._ ’ Kravitz almost flinched away from the petition. Despite her reassurances, there was no kindness for the Branded. He’d only had to do it twice during his time as Kravitz. 

Alli hoped The Raven Queen never ordered it of him again. 

She had been denied, of course. The denial was a statement of conditions for branding. Taako and Lup’s aunt had never sent asking for anything more. Kravitz turned the page like he was hoping for a back to it. He reached in and brought out Lup’s file. It held most of the same information. Where Taako’s had warned of mediocrity and hatred of authority, Lup’s had referred her to the officer program where she was continuing her training. She’d recovered only a few memories. 

Lup remembered a pair of glasses in the sand. She’d dreamed of endless stars kissing a horizon of black glass with her stomach twisted in horror and awe. Another of a flower in a glass vase. 

Her final memory was two men standing in front of a grave, each holding a child. She thought they were the children’s parents and maybe she was related to one of the men. One man had turned to the other and said, “ _Kravitz, what—._ ” 

Kravitz made himself shut the file. He was being nosy by reading something personal with no reason to. Frowning down, he tried to force himself to put it away. Something bothered him. ‘ _Kravitz_ ’ was a name, could be anyone’s name, but he’d never met anyone with it and—. He scoffed to himself and put both files back in the cabinet. 

There was nothing here; nothing but him trying to build a man out of scraps of knowledge, one he knew he’d never _really_ meet. Taako wasn’t going to be whatever he was trying to find. He stared at the ground, the scene he’d imagined of the grave playing in his mind. It hadn’t been especially descriptive, but he could almost see it outside the window. A soft fade of light fitting the task they’d—. 

_The wind rustled the grass and flowers. The man next to him turned with a soft, sad smile and swayed their daughter asleep against his shoulder. “Kravitz, what do you think? Should we wake them up to meet their Uncle Magnus and Aunt Julia?”_

_”Let them sleep,” a woman said quietly, only her skirt visible when the grass rushed against her form, but he knew she was there all the same. “Old ghosts aren’t more important than a baby’s—.”_

Kravitz forced himself out of it by slamming the filing cabinet close. He gasped for breath like he’d surfaced from freezing water. A raven squawked at him from the window. 

It was a gift from Her. 

A snippet of someone else’s memory that She’d kept. He pursed his lips as the raven flew off and tried not to think too hard about what it might mean that She knew of his snooping. Unfortunately, he had little to go on as far as her intentions were concerned. The Raven Queen gave away things She seemed to think were obvious but only became such later; usually, _much_ later.

The only thing he was sure of was that the father he’d been looking at in the memory had been Taako. 

He shook his head and leaned an elbow on his desk, closing his eyes as he caught his breath. This wasn’t supposed to be so _personal_. They were two men in an arrangement for particularly satisfying sex. Taako was attractive and he thought Kravitz was attractive. _Pretty_. It didn’t need to encompass all the intimate details of whoever Taako had been while he was alive. 

Kravitz opened his eyes and put a hand over his chest, focusing on the feeling of the corset hugging his skin, holding him in place. He sat back in his chair and laid his palms flat on his desk. In no time at all, Taako would have him splayed on his bed and thinking of nothing but how to desperately earn his touch, his lips, his praise. Intimacy didn’t have to be emotional and a part of him knew it never would be with Taako. 

_Gods_ , Kravitz couldn’t even imagine what kind of place Taako would live in. 

He smiled victoriously and tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. It was probably messy, mugs from the morning forgotten on a coffee table or counter. Soft, though. Kravitz couldn’t see Taako sacrificing comfort to not be garish. Nothing matched, he bet, and all of his furniture was the kind of piece someone would accidentally fall asleep on. The outside would probably be nestled between some cafe or bigger building. A bakery across the street – maybe – so the smell of fresh bread drifted in with the morning. He turned to look at the map of Shadowfell hanging from one wall to see if he could find Taako’s street. 

Unfortunately, that was when he remembered Taako hadn’t given him an address. 

He glanced up at the clock and sighed. There was twenty minutes for Kravitz to find it and it hadn’t been in the file he’d peeked at. Kravitz lifted his hand and a raven alighted on it. It tilted its head and croaked under its breath. “Please fetch me Secretary Taako Amaiat’s home address,” he told it shortly. 

It ruffled its feathers and held out the talons of one foot expectantly. _Greedy archivists_ , he thought to himself and pulled a copper from his desk drawer. “Post-haste,” he added as it snatched the copper from his fingers. It squawked and flapped its wings, pecking Kravitz’s wrist. “Ow!” He hissed a sigh and slammed a silver on the desk. It grumbled for a moment, pecking at it suspiciously, before picking it up in its beak and disappearing out the window. 

Kravitz sat back and wondered if the quest for Taako’s address was an intentional part of this game. He tucked a curl behind his ear and glanced at the clock again, tapping his claws in time with its ticks. After about a minute, he stood up and went about finishing his unpacking – all while glancing out the window anxiously for the raven he’d sent off to return. This occupied maybe a couple more minutes before he was back to watching the hands on his clock resting.

Instead of sitting down, Kravitz stepped out of his office and glanced at Taako’s desk. It’d always been sparse, but seemed barren now. Most Reapers had at least some tokens on their desk or in their office. The only sign of Taako was crude doodles around the calendar that served as a placemat near his typewriter and the ancient radio he’d never seen Taako turn on. 

Curiously, Kravitz stretched out his hand and pressed the power button. It whirred to life for a brief moment and the record resting on top started to spin, only spitting out a [snatch of a song](https://youtu.be/hmyVnOgi-MM). The machine huffed like it was too tired to go on and its lights turned off, the record spinning aimlessly until it slowed on its own. 

A photo peeked out from under the high counter, pinned to the corkboard backing, nearly hidden by the old thing. 

He leaned a bit to the side with his arms crossed, picking out Taako’s smile beside a woman who couldn’t be anything but his sister. They both had on aprons, ‘ _Sizzle It Up with Lup n’ Taako_ ’ across the front, with a cake between them. They each held up a single index finger. Squinting, Kravitz managed to make out, ‘ _Highest Rated Show on Radio_ ’ scrawled in icing on the cake.

He turned away from it and walked down to the Hall of Portraits. He passed every Grim Reaper who had lived until he got to his own. It was unfinished and would be until he died. He had chosen his scythe and stood for the hours it’d taken to paint him. Since then, Nazar occasionally returned to add to it. The Conspiracy’s shadows fell at his feet, walls having given way to the square in New Phandalin. Alight his scythe perched a mourning dove and a raven. The sun was rising, rays of light barely blooming. At some point, his expression had changed from awkward and slightly smiling to defiant. A glimmer of light on his hand caught his eyes: a band of silver on his left ring finger. Impulsively, Kravitz reached forward and touched it. 

The paint came away wet. 

He blinked down at his finger and then glanced around. “Nazar?” Slowly, he started towards his office. A sign hung on the door, ‘ _Out to lunch. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes, but, well, you’ll be gone by then, won’t you, Lord Kravitz? Yes, I know you messed up the paint. Don’t do it again._ ’

Kravitz coughed into his hand and stepped away. Well, there went that option for a distraction. He had no doubt that Nazar had taken an early lunch to avoid seeing him in person. He stopped by his makeshift bedroom and snagged the piercing Taako had requested. With only ten minutes left after he returned to his office, Kravitz resorted to pacing and watching the window.

The minutes torturously ticked by. He stood in his open office door as the half-an-hour mark slipped by and his stomach sank. 

Another minute. Then, another. Six minutes passed and Kravitz shifted from foot-to-foot.

Finally, the raven flew to the windowsill, a scrap of paper in its beak. Kravitz scrambled forward and snatched it. The raven squawked indignantly as he took off, all but running down his hallway. He slowed to a fast walk at the lobby, getting a few looks from other Reapers. He smiled awkwardly and waved until he reached the trollies outside. A glance at the slip of paper and Kravitz was dashing down an alley. He grabbed a fire escape and swung himself to the metal grate above, scrambling up the stairs to the roof. 

He hadn’t run across Shadowfell like this since he’d been in training and couldn’t be late. Luckily, the path to the cafe he used to frequent hadn’t changed by his guess. He whipped out his scythe and ran at the ledge. It was too far to actually jump, but Kravitz shoved his scythe, blade-down, against the ledge and pole-vaulted across the distance. He let go as it reached its peak and held out his hand as he hit the ground at a run. His scythe turned to shadows and was in his hands by the time he reached the next ledge.

After a few more roofs, Kravitz landed on top of the cafe and used his scythe to swing down to the alleyway. He tucked away the slip of its reduced size into his hair and scurried to Taako’s address, wiping sweat from his brow. No time to try to look decent, he guessed. He went straight upstairs to Taako’s door and knocked. 

He could really feel the corset as he panted for breath, his fingers dancing over its ties like he could bring himself to loosen it. Kravitz swallowed dryly, wishing for a glass of water. Surely, Taako would allow him that much before they started.

If he ever answered the door. 

Kravitz frowned and cleared his throat. He raised his hand to knock again when the door opened on its own. Glancing around, he pushed it the rest of the way open and slowly stepped inside. It was dark, the curtains pulled over the windows. He wiped his face with the back of his hand again and shut the door behind himself. “Taako?”

One of the doors opened and Taako leaned against the frame in those red robes from their first night. “Hey there, Handsome,” he grinned lazily and flicked his gaze over Kravitz. “You left me waitin’ so long, I had time to let my mind run wild thinkin’ of what I’m gonna do to you.”

Kravitz swallowed again, but for an entirely different reason.

Taako prowled forward, putting a hand on Kravitz’s hip, thumb dipping into the hem of his slacks. “I’m gonna take you apart, bubala,” he murmured. It was low enough that Kravitz leaned in to hear, dry lips parted. Taako grabbed his chin with a hand and pushed down on Kravitz’s tongue with his thumb. “You want that,” he smirked and Kravitz made a soft noise around his thumb. “You want me to wreck you, remind you how precious my time is. Look at you. You ran all the way here when you realized you were late, didn’t you? Yet, somehow, somethin’ else was more important than me.” His thumb pressed down almost painfully and Kravitz whimpered. “When I give you my time, you are _mine_. I’ll make sure you don’t forget that again.” Kravitz wanted to beg for forgiveness, but he had a feeling that would certainly come later. 

Among other things.

He held up his hands shakily and Taako let him pull his thumb from his mouth. Taako looked down at Kravitz as if daring him for an excuse. “Can I get a glass of water?”

Taako blinked in surprise then laughed softly. The lights turned on at the snap of his fingers. “Yeah, sure, c’mere,” he snickered and disappeared into the kitchen next to them. “I thought you were real horny to get started.” 

Kravitz followed with a nervous laugh and took the glass of water Taako shoved into his hands. “I really did run the whole way,” he admitted and leaned against the counter, all but gulping down his glass. 

Taako hopped up and sat next to him, swinging his legs against the cabinets. “You didn’t have to. Late is late, my guy,” he shrugged and wordlessly refilled Kravitz’s glass for him.

“I didn’t want to be late, so I ran,” Kravitz answered and took the glass back. “Thank you,” he whispered automatically.

Taako’s eyes softened and he leaned his elbows on his knees. “Kinda thought you got lost.”

“No,” Kravitz laughed. “I’ve lived here how many centuries? I never get lost.” Taako looked at him expectantly, waiting for Kravitz to finish his second glass of water. “You don’t want excuses,” Kravitz smiled and set the cup down. Hesitantly, he laid his hand on Taako’s thigh and wet his lips. “You don’t have much time and it sounds like you have a lot planned for me,” he murmured and looked up at Taako from under his eyelashes, trying to look sufficiently guilty. 

Taako jumped off the counter and crowded Kravitz against it, hands slipping around his waist. “Not much of a punishment if you want to be punished, pretty bird,” he hissed against Kravitz’s ear. Kravitz tilted his head to the side, hands resting loosely over Taako’s forearms. “Takes out a bit of the surprise, but I don’t got a sheet to look at for ya. How you feel about spanking, Handsome?”

“Good,” Kravitz replied softly, turning his lips to Taako’s ear. “Don’t hit me on my dick or face. Anywhere else is fine.” 

“Got it,” Taako laughed and stroked his hands over Kravitz’s waist as he leaned in. “Might need to think up somethin’ new. But I’ll start with you strippin’ down to just the corset.” He took a step back, letting Kravitz’s hands linger on his skin before he pulled away and turned to the sink. “Go to my room, strip naked, leave your jewelry on, put the corset and that piercing on, and fold your clothes neat. Then, kneel in the center of my bed with your hands cuffed together behind your back, turn on the beads and wait for me.” He flashed Kravitz a brief smile and nudged him with his elbow. “Get a move on, my guy.”

Kravitz took a deep breath and hurried to the bedroom door. Taako’s room had obviously and hastily been cleaned not long ago. He shut the door behind himself and unlaced the corset, setting it on the bed as he looked around. There were a couple of posters for things Kravitz didn’t recognize. Vaguely, he realized that the people on the posters were orcs or humans or elves; music from the Material Plane that had drifted into the Astral. His sheets and curtains were a garish pink, mismatched with a bright green dresser and poorly painted yellow drawers. Jewelry hung from hooks on the walls, metals faded or greened to show they were fake with colorful and cheap strands of beads sprawled across his dresser. Sheer curtains fell around the bed from a circle affixed to the ceiling. It was an assault on the eyes. 

He popped the buttons on his slacks with a smile. Worse than he’d imagined and still – somehow – charming. Taako in a nutshell, he supposed. Quickly, he unlaced his boots and stepped out of them. He shoved his slacks to the floor and started undoing the buttons at his neck before pulling the corset tight at his waist. Looser than before, when it was only for show, but enough to feel it constrict. 

Meticulously, he folded his clothes and sat them on the dresser. After a moment of hesitation, he pulled the ribbon from his pocket and tied it around his neck so the bow sat on the nape. He switched his dick piercing out with a touch of magic to help him. Finally, he crawled onto Taako’s bed and knelt, thighs splayed. Gently, he flicked on the vibration of the piercing and groaned softly at the feeling. A quick snap of his wrists and the cuffs hooked together, locking them at the small of his back.

Now, he only had to wait. 

Which really only gave him time to remember what was about to happen, feel the cool air against his stirring cock. Not only the spanking, but how he imagined Taako coming in to find him. He was already half-hard, sweat still drying on his skin from the run, heavy earrings brushing his jaw, legs spread. He shifted and bit his lip, raising his hands slightly to keep them above the curve of his ass. By the time Taako came in, the pleasant buzz of vibration would have him aching. He shivered, head dipping.

Anticipation simmered along his skin and he dug his toes into the sheets, shifting with a breath that pulled the corset tight. He groaned and looked up as the door opened. Taako stood there for a moment, admiring him. He held a paddle in his hand, flat wood cushioned with fur on one side and lined with hard leather on the other. Kravitz sat up straighter for Taako’s roaming eyes, trying not to focus too much on the paddle.

Smirking, Taako walked forward and ran his finger up the underside of Kravitz’s hard cock. “Good posture all around, my guy.” He walked a semi-circle around the bed and Kravitz forced himself to keep his gaze straight ahead. Only decades of training kept him from jolting when Taako put a hand on his ass. He smoothed it down Kravitz’s cheek, rubbing and pinching. Kravitz bit his lip and curled his toes to stay still. “You’re good at this, handsome,” Taako commented and light swatted his ass with the cushioned side of the paddle. The combination of the fur against his skin and piercing still sending a pleasant buzz down his cock made him hold himself even stiller from effort to keep quiet. Heat started creeping up Kravitz’s cheeks and his ears started to burn.

“Noticed it before,” he went on conversationally, lightly rubbing the underside of Kravitz’s ass and the top of his thighs so the fur tickled Kravitz’s skin. “I’d say you were like a doll, always pretty and poised and _pretending_.” He swatted at Kravitz’s ass again, harder this time. Not enough to hurt, but enough to make Kravitz grunt in surprise. He braced his legs on the sheets, readying himself for the paddle to turn.

Taako grabbed him by his braided bun and jerked his head back, making Kravitz arch uncomfortably while Taako smirked down at him. Kravitz parted his swollen lips purposefully, looking up at Taako with practiced sweetness. “There it is,” he grinned and let his grip loosen, resting the paddle under the curve of Kravitz’s ass. “You’re no doll.” He turned away and Kravitz glanced after him in mild confusion before turning back to his good posture.

There were sounds of things clacking together and then Taako walked into his field of vision, draping a strand of cheap pearls around his neck. The cold glass chilled his skin and goosebumps prickled along his arms. “You won’t get what you want from me, bubala,” he murmured and looped another strand of big beads around Kravitz’s neck. 

“What do you think I want, Taako?”

He’d spoke without thinking and immediately shut his mouth. Taako grinned and plucked a silk handkerchief from his robe pocket. “Right now, you want an answer. Sucks bad birds don’t get what they want,” he snickered and gagged Kravitz with the silk, tying it around the back of his head tightly, but the silk wasn’t meant to be the gag. Taako would have used a real gag if that was what he wanted.

“You know the rules,” he murmured in Kravitz’s ear. 

Self-control was supposed to be Kravitz’s gag and Taako was apparently going to test the limits of his. _Sweet Death_ , Kravitz thought to himself, feathers ruffling. Taako plucked a strand of smaller glass pearls from the mess around his arm and wrapped his hand around Kravitz’s cock, stroking it slowly. 

“I’m gonna make you pretty all over, my guy,” he smiled wickedly and flicked the vibrating piercing. Kravitz huffed against the slowly wetting silk in his mouth. “And you’re gonna stay like that.” He started to drape pearls around Kravitz’s cock, winding them loosely. They had to be imbued with some magic to hold just enough chill to remind Kravitz they were there without making him go soft. Taako took another strand and layered it beside the others until the pearls brushed against his piercing, threatening to fall off.

Taako tapped it lightly and picked back up the paddle, spilling the rest of the fake pearls at Kravitz’s knees. The bed dipped and creaked as he knelt behind Kravitz, hand resting on his hip. “Let a single pearl fall and I’ll tie you to my bed durin’ my other appointment then fuck you until you cry when I get back,” he growled in Kravitz’s ear. He rested the leather side of the paddle against the top of Kravitz’s thighs. Kravitz squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself. Taako grabbed his shoulder and shifted backwards, the heels of Kravitz’s feet brushing the inside of his knees. “One for every minute you made me wait.” 

_Smack!_

Kravitz muffled a cry and held himself in place, forcing down a flinch. “One,” Taako counted and flipped the paddle, brushing Kravitz’s stinging skin with the fur side. He spanked him again with as much force, but the padding didn’t sting as much. “Two.” He flipped the paddle again. 

_Shit_ , Kravitz thought and tried to take a deep breath. The corset forced him to make it shallow.

_Smack!_

A pearl jostled, but didn’t quite fall. “Three.” Kravitz shuddered and awkwardly shifted his hips upwards, hoping to get it to fall back. His corset hugged his ribs, making him feel both contained and exposed. The padded side hit him again and he moaned, cock thrust forward in a way that made his face burn. “Four.” The paddle flipped and rested against his ass, soothing a short circle on his reddened skin before it lifted away again. His skin tingled and buzzed as a nice contrast to the piercing. 

_Smack!_

That one stung at Kravitz’s eyes, pricking tears. “Five.” He gulped in another shallow breath around the silk and rolled his shoulders. Taako forced his shoulder back and made his back arch, shifting so he was beside Kravitz and could see his face. He’d forced himself to some kind of neutrality, impassive and cold. 

Kravitz wanted to please him so badly that he felt the prick of tears again. He shifted, watching the pearl. The cushioned side of the paddle hit him on the underside of his ass again and he jolted. The pearls nearly slipped off, but Kravitz shifted in time to keep them on, eyes squeezing shut in relief and anticipation. “Six.” The paddle dropped to his calves and Taako lifted his hand, kneading and rubbing Kravitz’s ass. 

_Smack!_

Taako spanked him again with his hand, fingers together. “Seven.” Groaning at the stinging skin, Kravitz bowed his head. He had no idea how many more were due. Taako wrapped a hand around his cock and thumbed the piercing. 

_Smack!_

That hit hard enough to force Kravitz’s hips forward, fucking into Taako’s hands and the pearls. His hips bucked into the aftershock of pleasure and pain, moans muffled against the silk. “Eight.” Kravitz turned his head to plead with Taako with his eyes. Taako tugged away the silk and leaned tantalizingly close, breath against Kravitz’s lips, nose pressed to the side of his. 

_Smack!_

Kravitz made himself hold still so Taako wouldn’t pull away, wouldn’t get hurt if he bumped into him. “Nine.” He shuddered and groaned, not quite able to look Taako in the eyes as he started stroking Kravitz’s shaft over the pearls, pressing them lightly so they rolled in place against his skin. 

_Smack!_

“Ten. Who do you belong to right now?” It was a demand and Kravitz’s breath stuttered, not able to answer as he caught Taako’s intense gaze.

_Smack!_

“One for every minute you make me wait,” Taako warned and lifted his hand to Kravitz’s cheek, turning it meanly, pinky digging into his throat under the corner of his jaw. Kravitz sucked in a shallow breath and whimpered.

_Smack!_

“ _You_!” He finally managed to answer, all but jolting into Taako’s arms. Taako let him, pulling him against his chest. 

“Are you gonna forget it again?” He started kneading the stinging skin of Kravitz’s ass, soothing his reddened skin. 

“N-no,” he promised against the column of Taako’s throat. 

“Good bird,” Taako praised and bundled him close so he could lean forward and grab some kind of ointment from the side table. “Pretty bird.” He pulled Kravitz down on top of him, massaging it into Kravitz’s skin with one hand, other hand dipping between his cheeks to finger him. Kravitz moaned helplessly, wrists still cuffed at the small of his back. He squirmed against Taako, into the fingers fucking him. “You probs deserve a reward for being so good for me.”

 _Please_ , Kravitz thought and pressed his face against Taako’s shoulder, shuddering. Taako’s hands stilled and he lifted them, flipping the two of them over. He spread Kravitz’s legs and lay between them, kissing Kravitz as he teased his ass with his dick. Kravitz panted and huffed, but Taako grabbed a handful of his ass cheek with a laugh to keep him from thrusting down on his cock. “This fine with you for a reward, handsome?” 

“Yea– _Yes_ ,” Kravitz hissed and Taako thrust into him without another word, pulling him into another kiss. In the apartment on the other side of Taako’s bedroom, someone started [playing music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GFubdyD370) loud enough it came out muffled – likely to cover the racket they’d been making – and they both laughed, quieting their own voices against each other’s lips.

Maybe it should have scared him that he’d so easily become Taako’s, but belonging to someone for the time they gave him didn’t sound so bad to Kravitz. In a another context, maybe Kravitz would have even let the notion of romance cross his mind. This wasn’t another context. No, this was _Taako_ and romance wasn’t meant to bloom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> S-sorry this took so long. *gestures vaguely* Life, yanno! 
> 
> Today's chapter title comes from [_Dove of Mine_ by Eliza Rickman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj1rquIjgjs). Which, really, for those of you with advanced knowledge of the coming chapters: this is the overarching plot from Taako's perspective. 
> 
>  
> 
> "Well, by the sword we live and die"  
> But you never know why  
> No, you never know why


	7. When Our Children Tell Their Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Want, wanting, wanted.

An alarm buzzed at the back of Taako’s mind. He curled closer to the warm body beside his, not yet wanting to wake up. If he waited a _little_ longer, the kids would be up and then neither of them would be able to sleep anymore. The alarm buzzed again and he buried his face in Kravitz’s soft hair, ears flicking in half-dreaming annoyance. 

For a moment, he was raising his head, looking at his open door. Two children flashed smiles as they hurried past, giggling with a mischief Taako knew he’d have to put a stop to soon. “They’re already up?” Kravitz groaned and stretched, groggy love resting across his face. Taako reached forward, fingers barely alight upon his cheek.

He blinked and Kravitz was still asleep beside him. His bedroom door was closed shut. He curled his hand to his chest, heart thrumming in his ears. The alarm buzzed again. Scrambling for his wand, Taako shut it off and stood in the middle of his cramped bedroom in Shadowfell. He took deep breaths and grounded himself in the evening. 

Whatever past that had gotten him there wasn’t important. This was _his_ life, not the mistakes of a ghost. 

Taako was going to get ready to go downtown to see someone else. He looked back at Kravitz and walked to his bathroom. There was a long list of preparations for his next _appointment_ ; washing up with scented oils, taming his hair into softness and order, dressing like he hadn’t let a man sleep in his bed in a fit of – what he would only tell anyone who asked – madness. It wasn’t the thought of someone warm beside him and coming home to a bed with space for two yet spared for him. No, that wasn’t why he’d silently pulled Kravitz back into his bed when he’d stood to dress.

To damn him, Kravitz followed as quietly as Taako had insisted while he’d laid his dreams on the same pillow as Taako’s mess of reverie.

His hands paused on the buttons at his throat. He spared a glance for Kravitz behind him in the mirror. His throat worked as a flash of hours ago stormed across his mind.

“ _Who do you belong to you right now?_ ” 

“ _You!_ ” 

Why has he said that? He bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut. Of course he’d answered the way Taako had wanted, Taako had threatened him with another spanking. He covered his face with both hands and tried to shove down whatever darkness swirled in his stomach. Things were already increasingly _messy_ between them and then he’d said _that_. 

What if Kravitz had taken him seriously? He dug his claws into his forehead and muffled a noise of frustration against his palms. This wasn’t the time to deal with this. He had no idea what Kravitz thought about something dumb he’d said in the moment. 

He’d be a liar if he tried to deny Kravitz’s response had sent _want_ lightning-quick down his spine. Wanted to fuck him, yes. Make him scream, yes. Tie him to a bed and ride his cock, yes. Not the man himself. _Yet._ Spreading his shaking fingers, Taako judged himself in the mirror and _tsk_ ed. This was nothing between them. He turned his eyes to Kravitz’s sleep-softened face in the mirror.

This was nothing.

Slowly, he returned to the buttons at his throat and the evening under his toes. He built his mask with powder and paint, hands confident in this part. Time was going to catch up with him if he wasn’t careful. 

He jotted down a quick note to Kravitz to stay in the room until he was back. Lup _really_ didn’t need to come back and find the Grim Reaper half-naked on their couch. After a moment of hesitation, he wrote down instructions on how to dispel a preservation spell and hurried to his dresser. He swept beads aside with his forearm and grabbed a piece of chalk that nearly rolled off the side. Hastily, he sketched a circle about the size of a plate. From a drawer, he grabbed some runes and licked each one before setting them in an imaginary five-pointed star. He unsheathed his dagger and laid its tip at the dip of his collarbone, mark of service thrumming with power as he muttered something arcane and infernal. The chalk lit up, ready for its final piece.

In the kitchen, Taako heated up some leftovers from the night before and set them out on plate; a haunch of skitterbit with a scatter of scallions for show. Grinning, Taako set it on the dresser and slid the last rune in place. It shielded the leftovers, steam frozen above the plate, ready to be eaten and as fresh as Taako could make it. That would have to do to keep Kravitz content until he returned. 

He impulsively pecked Kravitz’s temple as he passed, hand against Kravitz’s cheek. “I’m leaving,” he murmured, knowing perfectly well that Kravitz couldn’t hear him wherever he was in dreamland. Taako gently rubbed at the impression of lipstick he’d left behind, but did no more than smudge dark mauve into his hairline. Frowning, he tried a little harder and Kravitz shifted, peeping softly in his sleep as he started to shift. Taako jerked back, hands raised defensively, but Kravitz only rolled over and chirped a few more times before settling.

“Shit,” Taako swore under his breath and bit the nail on his thumb, glancing around. He needed to wipe away that lipstick. Carefully, he poked Kravitz in the ribs to try to get him to roll over again. He tittered and buried his face more securely in the pillow. “ _Damn it_.” Taako flicked Kravitz’s ear and Kravitz groaned groggily, hand clapping over his ear as he turned. “Fuckin’ sleep more often. Ya don’t gotta turn dead every time you snooze, asshole,” he ranted at Kravitz quietly as he poked him on the cheek. Kravitz turned his head – _finally_ – peeping in protest. 

Taako licked his finger and rubbed at the lipstick as Kravitz peeped away like he was having some kind of conversation with Taako, leaning into his touch until it was gone enough Taako didn’t think he’d really notice it. He smirked and patted Kravitz’s cheek, letting it fall back on the pillow. 

He’d definitely tease the man about chirping in his sleep later. 

With that, he headed out the door feeling like he’d won something until he nearly collided with Lup. She caught herself with a laugh and scooped an envelope off the ground in one smooth movement. “Watch where you’re goin’, bubala,” he mock chastised as he steadied himself on the doorframe. 

“Sure, sure,” she grinned and flicked through the mail in her hands. “How’d your day go?”

“Work or whatevs,” he lied and shut the door. He wasn’t running _too_ late and Lup was home earlier than usual. “Speakin’ of which, big project in my room. Do not enter,” he warned and wagged his finger at her. 

Lup rolled her eyes and opened one of the envelopes. “Is that why it’s so clean in here? Your hot boss comin’ over and you wanna impress him?”

“No,” Taako hissed defensively and crossed his arms. 

Her eyes flicked over him and she snorted. “Sure, sure,” she grinned. “What time would I expect him if he _were_ to come?”

“None time,” he insisted, tapping his fingers on his bicep. “Because he’s not comin’.” He paused, gripping his arm. “First of all, I don’t have a quote unquote _hot boss_. He’s passable at best. Second of all, I’d never try to impress Assvitz. So there you go.”

“Uh huh. So he’s already been here,” she laughed and shoved an envelope at him. “Can you pay the water bill when you pass Resources?” 

He took it and folded it into his pocket with a scowl. “I’ll be back in a couple hours,” he growled, running a hand through his hair. 

“Have fun,” she commented absently, writing a cheque for one of their other bills as he stormed out. 

He shut the door and leaned against the bricks beside it, hand still resting on the knob as he stared at the ground. It was Lup’s usual jabs, but he didn’t know why she’d picked _Kravitz_ of all people to tease him about. He’d expressed nothing but disdain for the man.

Hadn’t he?

For a moment but hours ago, he’d _wanted_ Kravitz. In his dream, the man near his heart had wanted him in a groggy, naked expression of love. He covered his eyes with one hand and took a ragged breath. 

Whoever that man had wanted had made the mistake of wanting back every single morning. If things had been so idyllic then Taako wouldn’t be alive. If he’d had a heart that could flutter with a smile, then why had he made a deal with Death to forget what it felt like to wake up and be wanted? He hugged himself and rocked forward.

He didn’t want this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’sssss Taakitz week!


	8. Twilight Interlude: Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this isn't a real chapter! All this is, is some art to announce the second arc of stuff after about seventy years of depression. Please enjoy these propaganda posters. Barry is done by the very talented Glace Leau, Kravitz is by the ever-sunny Pepgold, and the Lup is by me!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you all in the one!

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to follow my [Tumblr](https://evitcani-writes.tumblr.com/) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Evit_cani).


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